🇬🇧 How to Make Shepherd's Pie

Craving Shepherd's Pie? On FoodNeverComes the food never actually comes — so here's how to make real Shepherd's Pie at home, in about 1 hr 30 min, with stuff you probably already have.

🛒 Ingredients

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• 1kg lamb mince
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 400ml lamb or beef stock
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp thyme leaves
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• Topping: 1.2kg floury potatoes
• 80g butter
• 100ml milk
• 60g mature cheddar, grated (optional)
• salt, black pepper

👩‍🍳 Method

1. It is lamb. Made with beef it is a cottage pie — the names are not interchangeable and a shepherd does not keep cattle.
2. Brown the mince in batches in a dry hot pan until it is genuinely browned, not grey. Lamb mince releases a lot of fat; pour most of it off, but keep a spoonful for the vegetables.
3. Soften the onion, carrot and celery for 10 minutes, then stir in the flour and tomato purée and cook 2 minutes to take the raw edge off both.
4. Return the meat, add stock, Worcestershire and thyme, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes until thick. A loose filling boils up through the potato and floods the top.
5. Mash the potatoes with butter and milk and season harder than feels right — the filling is well seasoned and a bland topping reads as a mistake.
6. Spread the mash to the very edges so it seals against the dish, then rough the surface up with a fork. Those ridges are what catch and crisp.
7. Bake at 200°C for 30 minutes until browned at the peaks and bubbling at the edges. Rest 10 minutes before serving or it will not hold a cut.