Easy Shepherd’s Pie

When drawing up a meal plan for last week, and trying to avoid choosing the same dishes week after week, I realised that I hadn’t made Shepherd’s Pie in, like, forever. So it promptly went on the list, and luckily our local supermarket had lamb mince in store when my husband went for our weekly shop. You can make this with other mince too, but then it’s a Cottage Pie not a Shepherd’s Pie (sorry for being picky, but the clue is in the name!) Anyway, it turned out really yummy, so here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 large shallots
• 4 medium carrots
• 500g lamb mince
• 4 Tbsp tomato puree
• Worcester Sauce (use gluten free if required, or you can leave it out)
• 500ml water + 2 tsp vegetable stock powder OR 500ml vegetable stock
• 100g frozen peas
• 1 kg floury potatoes (I use Maris Piper)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp cream cheese
• 4 Tbsp milk
• salt and pepper
• nutmeg (optional)

Directions

• Peel the shallots and carrots and chop in to bite sized pieces (my pieces are roughly 1cm). Add to a large saucepan together with the vegetable oil and cook on a medium heat until the veg starts to soften.
• Add in the lamb mince and cook until it starts to brown, breaking it up with a spoon as it cooks.
• Once the meat has browned, add in the tomato puree and a dash of Worcester Sauce (I use gluten free Worcester sauce but if you need to cook gluten free and can’t find any you can also just leave it out).
• Mix everything together and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the water and stock powder or stock.
• Turn the heat down, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, uncover and give it a good stir then cook for another 30 minutes.
• Leave the peas in a bowl to defrost a little while the rest is cooking. When you do the half way check after the first 15 minutes, it’s also a good time to pre-heat your oven. 200 C for a regular over or 180 C for a fan oven.
• While the meat and veg mix is cooking, peel, chop and boil the potatoes in salted water until tender. This will take about 15-20 minutes depending on the type of potato and how small you chop it.
• Mash the potatoes with the butter, cream cheese, and milk, and season with salt and pepper. You can also add a pinch of ground nutmeg for an extra layer of flavour, but if you don’t usually cook with nutmeg, you can also leave this out – no point buying a whole jar just for one pinch.
• Once the meat and veg mixture has cooked through and thickened up, transfer to an oven proof dish and spread out evenly. Top with the mash and spread that out evenly too. Our dish is approx. 20 x 30cm which is a perfect size, but don’t worry if yours is a little smaller or bigger, it just means your layers will be a little thicker or thinner.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the top starts to turn golden.
• Leave to stand for a few minutes before serving. Goes well with some rocket leaves on the side for the grown ups, and for the kids I cut them up some cucumber.