Recipe Irish Shepherd's Pie

[Mountain Cat]

For many people, shepherd’s pie is comfort food, something they grew up with, which reminds them of home cooking: A mom somewhere making a weekly or possibly every other week’s dish. Often it was served with ground beef (here in America, at any rate), without a clue towards nomenclature.

My parents never ever made shepherd’s pie or any variant thereof — it wasn’t part of Southern German cooking, which Mother excelled at — it wasn’t part of Dad’s fascination with Asian or Mediterranean cuisines or seafood, and odd body parts — all that is MY actual comfort food! — I don’t think I tasted it until I went away to college, where it was the Sunday night weekly hodge-podge of whatever was left over in the cafeteria kitchen that we didn’t particularly like the first time around (which in this case was WHY it was left over), topped with some mighty tasteless and dry mashed potatoes with all the culinary appeal of cardboard. At any rate, for me comfort food it was not. (There was a reason I LOST 15 pounds in my first college semester instead of gaining the Freshman Fifteen. Okay, I did live on the fourth floor of a dorm with an elevator only available when students were moving in or out, too — but I seriously didn’t eat much when confronted with that cafeteria.) And at that point in time, there wasn’t much excess of me to lose!) The college concoction bore as much resemblance to comfort food as a passel of fire ants would to a decent night's sleep...

So I’ve spent the succeeding years and decades avoiding the dish, usually with success. Whenever I DID have it, it was in a cafeteria setting, so no wonder… (And besides it was always really “Cottage” pie, not made with genuinely wonderful lamb.)

Somewhere in between I learned the following details about shepherd’s pie:

1. Authentic shepherd’s pie is made with lamb, not beef, at least if you want to hearken this back to Ireland. The Irish back in the day were more apt to have money for lamb or mutton, than for meat from cattle. They often reared their own sheep, too. Um… the name includes the word, “shepherd” – sheep-herder??? Duh.
2. The proper name for the pie made from beef is “cottage pie” — although I wonder if “cowboy’s pie” could be a valid substitute?
3. For St. Patrick’s Day, shepherd’s pie in Ireland is more traditional than corned beef and cabbage, which is an Irish-American development (but good in its own right).
4. Most recently, I learned that the lamb (or mutton) for shepherd’s pie isn’t necessarily ground, but chopped up finely. Recipes I have come across online that do this are using lamb shoulder.
5. Yes, the other ingredients with the meat, under the potatoes, were things that the frugal Irish housewife had an abundance of in her kitchen (yes, the cooks were typically the housewives).
6. According to Jamie Oliver, the very oldest shepherd’s pies had a layer of mashed potatoes at the bottom, up the sides of the pan, and of course on top of the filling. You know, encased like a typical pie. Hmm, so, why not try it???
7. And of course, the potato is a New World food, and the Irish took this item on like no tomorrow once it was available in the Old World, and since they only grew one variety, when the Irish Potato Famine came on, they were in trouble. They never did take on New World corn in the same way, so I don’t include corn in this recipe. (Well, unlike the college cafeteria, which usually had almost as much corn as potato in their unpalatable recipe…)
8. 

So, having learned that the meat didn’t have to be ground (or could be very coarsely ground), I decided to experiment. I mean, I DO like the ingredients this dish is supposed to have! My first effort yielded way too much potato to filling — at least for modern sensibilities, although I suspect back in the day, it turned out rather closer to authentic considering the availability of the other ingredients. Just add more potato surroundings than filling… This dish is definitely adaptable to quantities!

Prep time: 20 minutes.
Cooking time: About an hour and a half.
Rest time: 10 minutes or so to cool down.
Serves: Four.

Irish Shepherd’s Pie

• 1.25 pounds lean lamb meat, shoulder meat preferred. Coarsely mince with scissors or a good knife. (DO Not grind it!)
• a touch of your favorite healthy cooking oil.
• 1 small potato (preferably a “golden” variety), diced fine — about 1/4 inch cubes. You don’t have to peel this one.
• 1 small turnip, cleaned up, diced fine — about 1/4 inch cubes.
• 2 stalks celery, diced fine.
• 2 medium parsnips, skin removed, and diced fine.
• 1 small/medium onion, diced.
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced.
• 2-3 cups low sodium vegetable broth.
• Several sprigs of fresh rosemary, remove stems.
• Dried oregano and thyme, about 1/4 teaspoon or so apiece.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• 1.25 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (or another Golden variety), peeled or not.
• 1 tablespoon butter.

Brown the meat in a little oil, say five to eight minutes. Use a large skillet….

Add in all the veggies and most of the seasonings (not the rosemary, the additional potatoes; nor the cream or butter.

Simmer and saute for around 5-8 minutes longer. The onions should be translucent, and the potato and turnip somewhat soft. (You can always add that celery later in this process if you want it to have more crunch — I suspect back in olden days in Ireland this may not have been a consideration.

Add in the broth, and seasonings. Simmer on low for about an hour, uncovered, stirring occasionally.

The peeled potatoes – roughly quarter (or more) and bring to a boil in a pot with water to cover, reduce heat, and allow to simmer for about 40 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 375F.

Remove the potatoes from the heat, drain, and mash with the cream, butter, and salt.

In a meatloaf pan or small square casserole dish, lay out a layer of potato, reserving some for on top. Over the bottom potato layer, spread the stewed veggie/lamb mixture, avoiding excess liquid, if any.

Over the top, spread out the rest of the potato mixture, covering the top completely.

Bake for 35 minutes — cover it, but if you want some crispy potato tops, remove cover halfway through the baking. Allow to rest for ten.

Serve with: A good cabbage dish?

 

[TastyReuben]

The first time I ever had restaurant sheptage pie ("sheptage" is my new word for American shepherds pie, which is really cottage pie, but we don't call it that. was at a now-closed fake-"authentic" Irish pub chain called Claddagh's.

What they brought me was a big soup bowl of ground beef in gravy, with a single dollop of mash in the middle, like a dollop of whipped cream on a dessert pie, and about a dozen of those little from-frozen peas and carrots arranged around the mash in a circle.