A Scotsmans Shepherd Pie Food

A SCOTSMAN'S SHEPHERD PIE

Steps:

• Stir potatoes, sour cream, cream cheese, 1 tablespoon butter, egg yolk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper together in a bowl until smooth.
• Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add ground lamb, reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring frequently, until browned and crumbly, 4 to 5 minutes. Pour off excess grease and season lamb with salt and black pepper to taste.
• Stir tomatoes with juice, onion, and carrot into ground lamb; simmer until vegetables are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Add peas, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently, until peas are warmed, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Heat beer in a saucepan over medium heat; add beef bouillon. Cook and stir beer mixture until bouillon is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
• Heat remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a separate pan over medium-low heat until sizzling. Whisk flour into butter until thick and paste-like, about 1 minute. Stir beer mixture and Worcestershire sauce into flour mixture until gravy is smooth and thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir gravy into lamb mixture and simmer until mixture is thickened, at least 5 minutes.
• Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven's broiler. Grease a 9x12-inch baking dish.
• Pour lamb mixture into the prepared baking dish. Carefully spoon mashed potatoes over lamb mixture, covering like a crust. Sprinkle Cheddar cheese, parsley, and paprika over mashed potatoes.
• Broil in the preheated oven until crust is browned and cheese is melted, 4 to 5 minutes. Cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

SHEPHERD'S PIE

Steps:

• Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Place the half-and-half and butter into a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave until warmed through, about 35 seconds. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and then add the half and half, butter, salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk until well combined.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the canola oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and saute just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.
• Add the corn and peas to the lamb mixture and spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place on a parchment lined half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

COTTAGE/ SHEPHERD'S PIE

Steps:

• Peel and quarter potatoes and set them in a pot of water to boil (on high).
• In a large pan on the stove, quick fry the onions in the olive oil (maybe 2 minutes), until they are translucent- NOT burned.
• Add the minced garlic to the onions and fry for 30 sec to 1 minute longer.
• Add the lean (or extra lean) ground beef.
• Fry the beef/ onions until the beef is BROWN. Not gray. BROWN. Some bits might stick to the bottom. That's flavour, that's good. If there is a lot of fat, try to drain some off.
• In a bowl mix a couple teaspoons of water with the Oxo packets (or just use fresh beef stock), and deglaze the pan with the beef stock.
• Add your salt and pepper now too- I find it takes quite a lot of salt. Almost half a teaspoon.
• Next, add the flour to the remaining water and blend it well.
• Pour it into the beef/onion/stock mixture and let it thicken for a few minutes. I stir vigorously here so that there aren't any "lumps" in the gravy.
• Once the 'gravy' is thick, I add the veggies. Usually I use frozen, and just keep adding them until I think there are enough.
• By this time, your potatoes should be ready to mash.
• Salt, butter, milk and mash, until your potatoes are thick and creamy.
• Then, here's my trick (Thank You, Alton Brown)- I add a raw egg and mash the heck out of all of it. The egg helps the potatoes stay 'together' and brown nicely. Try it one time, and if you don't like it, leave the egg out next time.
• Pour the meat mixture into a cassarole dish (size depends on whether you like a "deep" pie).
• Top with the potatoes. I have a friend who puts some shredded cheese on top. I've had it, it's pretty good, but I prefer plain potatoes with a smidgen of butter smeared around the top.
• Bake at 400F for 20 minutes, or until the top is nice and golden brown. Or, freeze it unbaked, well wrapped in saran wrap and tinfoil. Just remember to take the saran wrap off, because I forgot once, and that's a mess you just don't want to think about.

MEATBALL SHEPHERD'S PIE

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine ground beef. parsley, mustard, flour, egg, salt, pepper, powder and beef broth. Blend with a fork.
• In a 4-5 quart pan over high heat, bring brown onion gravy to a boil; add sherry and reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Quickly shape the beef mixture into 1 inch balls and drop into gravy. When all are in, cover and simmer until meatballs are no longer pink in the center, 10-12 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer meatballs (some of the onions will come too) to a bowl.
• Boil gravy over high heat, stirring often, until reduced to about 2 cups, apprx 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and remove half to be used another time. Return meatballs and any accumulated juice to gravy, mix gently.
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl, with a mixer or potato masher, mash potatoes with 2 TBSP butter and the cream cheese until smooth. If desired add just enough beef broth to moisten potatoes to be able to squeeze them through a pastry bag. Add cheese, salt and pepper to taste.
• Spray a shallow 3 1/2 to 4 quart casserole with cooking spray. Spread 2/3 of the potato mixture evenly over bottom. Add meatballs and gravy. Spoon remaining potato mixture decoratively around edge of meatball mixture or spoon into a pastry bag with 1 inch star or round tip and pipe around the edge. Sprinkle with paprika.
• Bake pie in a 400°F oven until gravy is bubbling and potatoes are browned, 30-35 minutes.
• Brown Onion Gravy:.
• Peel and finely chop 2 cups onions In a 4-5 quart pan over medium high heat, stir onions in 2 TBSP butter (I used 1) until richly browned, 13-15 minutes. Add 2 tsp sugar and stir for 2 more minutes. Add 3 TBSP flour and stir until browned 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 3 cups fat skimmed beef broth. Return to high heat and stir until boiling.