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Best Classic Shepherd’s Pie Recipe​


The Best Classic Shepherd's Pie - AKA Shepards Pie or Cottage Pie. Ground Beef (or lamb) with vegetables in a rich gravy, topped with cheesy mashed potatoes and baked.

Prep Time: 20minutes mins
Cook Time: 50minutes mins
Total Time:1hour hr 10minutes mins

Ingredients​

Meat Filling:​

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped yellow onion
  • 1 lb. 90% lean ground beef -or ground lamb
  • 2 teaspoons dried parsley leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 garlic cloves -minced
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1 cup frozen mixed peas & carrots*
  • 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels

Potato Topping:​

  • 1 1/2 - 2 lb. russet potatoes -about 2 large potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter -1 stick
  • 1/3 cup half & half
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Instructions​

Make the Meat Filling.​

  • Add the oil to a large skillet and place it over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the onions. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Add the ground beef (or ground lamb) to the skillet and break it apart with a wooden spoon. Add the parsley, rosemary, thyme, salt, and and pepper. Stir well. Cook for 6-8 minutes, until the meat is browned, stirring occasionally.
  • Add the Worcestershire sauce and garlic. Stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute.
  • Add the flour and tomato paste. Stir until well incorporated and no clumps of tomato paste remain.
  • Add the broth, frozen peas and carrots, and frozen corn. Bring the liquid to a boil then reduce to simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Set the meat mixture aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Make the potato topping.​

  • Place the potatoes in a large pot. Cover the potatoes with water. Bring the water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are fork tender, 10-15 minutes.
  • Drain the potatoes in a colander. Return the potatoes to the hot pot. Let the potatoes rest in the hot pot for 1 minute to evaporate any remaining liquid.
  • Add butter, half & half, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mash the potatoes and stir until all the ingredients are mixed together.
  • Add the parmesan cheese to the potatoes. Stir until well combined.

Assemble the casserole.​

  • Pour the meat mixture into a 9x9 (or 7x11) inch baking dish. Spread it out into an even layer. Spoon the mashed potatoes on top of the meat. Carefully spread into an even layer.
  • If the baking dish looks very full, place it on a rimmed baking sheet so that the filling doesn’t bubble over into your oven. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.** Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Notes​

*If you can’t find frozen mixed peas and carrots, you could use 1/2 cup frozen peas and 1/2 cup frozen sliced carrots.

**Bake at 400° F. Start preheating the oven after you make the meat mixture (listed in step 6).
 
WOW that shepherd's pie is so much more involved than mine!
I put two pounds of scrambled and fried ground beef in a pan, pour in a can of veg-all
and a can of beef gravy and cover it in potatoes and bake it 20 minutes.

Cheesy tater biscuits:
Make a batch of Bisquick on the dry side.
for every cup of Bisquick, add 1 cup of mashed potatoes.
1/4 tablespoon each of basil, minced garlic, and black pepper.
1 cup of your favorite cheddar.
Bake as usual in a well-greased pan.
 
Magus said:
The coal miner's special:
Two boneless chicken breasts, breaded and fried, laid out on a pile of fried and drained potatoes covered in chicken gravy, four eggs, however, you like them, 4 biscuits, a bowl of extra gravy, a bowl of grits and butter, and jelly on the side. Big glass of moo juice.
Click to expand...
Dang, boy, you on a diet or somethin'? What about the coffee and pie?
 
WOW that shepherd's pie is so much more involved than mine!
=== ===
Agree... We made Shepherds pie a lot in the far frozen north..
A pint jar of home canned ground meat, onion, veggies, garlic, mashed potatoes, bake...

The far north never did understand or perfect biscuits or grits.. As good as many things were there at times I really missed a local Waffle House...
 
Grits are a whole new thread. nobody north of the Mason/Dixon line even knows what to do with them. Grits can be had at every meal in so many ways you never notice! They can be a main course, side dish, entree, dessert, or even a condiment!
 
Magus said:
Grits are a whole new thread. nobody north of the Mason/Dixon line even knows what to do with them. Grits can be had at every meal in so many ways you never notice! They can be a main course, side dish, entree, dessert, or even a condiment!
Click to expand...
Start a thread on grits. Educate us backwoods northerners.
 
Caribou said:
Start a thread on grits. Educate us backwoods northerners.
Click to expand...
I thought I did ages ago. Meh. it's not showing up on the radar so...
 
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 425° Freedom Units / 220° Confusing Units

Grab a cast-iron skillet and a pile of fingerling or baby potatoes. Cut the potatoes into roughly 1-inch chunks, if needed. Fill the bottom of the skillet in one layer only.

Peel some garlic, one to two cloves a serving or however many you like. Toss those into the skillet as well.

Drizzle the whole mess with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and throw on some minced fresh herbs. Rosemary or thyme are my go-tos, usually. Toss the whole thing to coat all the potatoes and garlic with oil, herbs, and spices.

Roast for 30 minutes, tossing once at the 15-minute mark, and serve immediately.

Leftovers reheat beautifully at 350°F/ 175°C for 10 minutes.
 
Bacpacker said:
Sorry to hear that. Shrimp is way up high on my list of favorite foods
Click to expand...
I love shrimp but gave it up many years ago when I heard that most of the shrimp that we see in the U.S. is processed by enslaved people in Thailand. When you read on the package where food is from, it is not always the truth. The people who are selling it are onto those of us who won't support slavery and other atrocities that we know about.
 
Magus said:
Grits are a whole new thread. nobody north of the Mason/Dixon line even knows what to do with them. Grits can be had at every meal in so many ways you never notice! They can be a main course, side dish, entree, dessert, or even a condiment!
Click to expand...
On some meme there was a quiz about 4 breakfast foods that you got to choose which one you would not eat. A friend of mine from South Dakota had never eaten biscuits and gravy. I hadn't either until I was well into adulthood. Now I make them periodically. Grits, I may have eaten them once, but I have no memory of doing so. I also don't see them on menus in restaurants.
 
Magus said:
WOW that shepherd's pie is so much more involved than mine!
I put two pounds of scrambled and fried ground beef in a pan, pour in a can of veg-all
and a can of beef gravy and cover it in potatoes and bake it 20 minutes.

Cheesy tater biscuits:
Make a batch of Bisquick on the dry side.
for every cup of Bisquick, add 1 cup of mashed potatoes.
1/4 tablespoon each of basil, minced garlic, and black pepper.
1 cup of your favorite cheddar.
Bake as usual in a well-greased pan.
Click to expand...
I could see doing this, except I never purchase gravy. I make my own. I have to be careful of all the chemicals that are put in processed foods and the migraines they can cause. I do not mean to sound like a snob, but migraines are debilitating. Many years ago in some prepping group someone talked about how many gravy packets they had stashed in their preps. I'll take a can of roast beef or ground beef from my preps and add some corn starch to make gravy with some seasonings that I know are safer, such as Lowry's seasoning salt. You can bet I've read the labels on those meats to make sure they aren't going to get me as well.
 
Magus said:
Ever eaten creamed wheat? very similar.
Click to expand...
When we were kids, eating commodities, we got wheat for creamed wheat, but we also got a lot of cornmeal, way more than northerners would normally eat. We had a rotation of creamed wheat, oatmeal, and cornmeal mush for breakfast. I know we had cereal in boxes, because I remember when they had a record on the box, but no memory of eating much of that cereal.
 
I vote that the grits comments be moved to the "Grits" thread.
On topic, taters:
Hasn't anybody loved eating these? :dunno:
Steak Fries:
188910_640x428.jpg

Way better than french-fries.:thumbs:
 
Caribou said:
Chunk up your potatoes, cover with unsalted water, bring to a boil.
When the potatoes are half done add lightly smoked salmon, or black cod, or your favourite smoked fish.
Butter potatoes after draining and serve with creamed peas. Peas in a milk gravy.
Click to expand...
We called that salmon p wiggle but we put the salmon and peas in the gravy.
 
Supervisor42 said:
I vote that the grits comments be moved to the "Grits" thread.
On topic, taters:
Hasn't anybody loved eating these? :dunno:
Steak Fries:
188910_640x428.jpg

Way better than french-fries.:thumbs:
Click to expand...
Spiked and spiced with season salt and a mild dusting of chili powder and grated parmesan cheese!
 
I got one for you, RIVER Taters! My dad insisted on making this stuff, it's pretty bad until the third bite, and then you're hooked!

In a 14" Iron skillet fry 4-5 large potatoes, sliced.
1 large onion, Diced.
6 large eggs.
And here is the wild card, a pack of baloney, or a can of sliced spam, or bacon, sometimes hot dogs, but only one.
Fry everything done and serve on a plate bigger than you think you can possibly eat, the stuff smells like vomit and the first couple of bites aren't much better, then it gets you like tequila! it's horrible but delicious at the same time, then you shovel it in like you haven't eaten in a week! covering it in real red-eye gravy makes the smell and taste better! My personal favorite variation is with baloney or hot dogs.
 
Supervisor42 said:
I vote that the grits comments be moved to the "Grits" thread.
On topic, taters:
Hasn't anybody loved eating these? :dunno:
Steak Fries:
188910_640x428.jpg

Way better than french-fries.:thumbs:
Click to expand...
No fries are better.

Wife makes what she calls camp fries. Slice tater chunks, onion chunks, salt pepper, and lots of butter all wrapped in foil. Good either in the oven, or even better in the ashes of a fire
 
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