Shepherd's Pie

Since this is still the week of St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to use the opportunity to make a traditional Irish Shepherd's Pie for dinner a few days ago.  I combined a few recipes I found online to make dinner and was happy with the results.  We also invited my mom for dinner that evening and it seems like everyone liked this pie.  I made it with ground beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, onions and peas.

I have been planning on making this type of a pie for a while now.  The first time Ivan and I tried something similar was when we were in London.  I ordered a lamb pie and Ivan ordered a beef pie and they were both very good.  So this is my recipe for the Shepherd's Pie:

Ingredients:

• about 2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons of sour cream or softened cream cheese
• 1 large egg yolk (reserve egg white for later)
• 1/2 cup of cream, or for a lighter version substitute vegetable or chicken broth
• salt and freshly ground black papper (to taste)
• about 1 tablespoon of olive oil or to taste
• 1 3/4 pounds of ground beef or ground lamb (I used ground beef this time)
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of butter (I substituted some olive oil)
• 2 tablespoons of all-purplose flour
• 1 cup of chicken or beef stock
• 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce or to taste
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 1/2 cup of red wine
• 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
• couple of pinches of dry thyme (optional)
• some tomato paste to taste (optional)
• grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions: (Servings: 4)

• Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F
• Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes.

• Drain potatoes and transfer them into a bowl. 
• Combine sour cream, egg yolk and cream (or broth) and add the mixture to the potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth

• In the meantime, preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat
• Saute carrots in the olive oil until starting to get tender, about 5 minutes.
• Add onions  and saute for about a minute or two 

• Add meat and season with salt, black pepper and thyme
• Cook until browned, then drain fat
• Add the butter (or olive oil) and peas

• Sprinkle with flour and stir through
• Add wine, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste (if using)
• Let this reduce slightly, then add the stock and allow to reduce down until you have a thick meaty gravy
• Season to your taste
• Remove from heat
• Grease an oven-proof dish (I used a pie dish like seen in the photos) with butter (or olive oil) and add the cooked meat

• Spoon the mashed potatoes over the meat evenly

• Brush with the left over egg white evenly and sprinkle with paprika and some parmesan cheese (if using)

• Bake for about 20 minutes or until the potato is nice and browned on top

• Sprinke with some parsley if you would like and serve with some dark beer or Irish whiskey. ; )

This pie is so tasty and pretty easy to make!  I think that from now on we'll make this once in a while, since this pie can be eaten throughout the year, and not only for St. Patrick's Day!  Cheers! : )