Here is a tasty filling meal for the whole family. Some might consider this the best in comfort food. Shepherd’s pie is a meat pie with ground lamb and mashed potatoes layered on top. If you were to substitute ground beef for the lamb then you would have cottage pie. Originally this dish was a great way to use leftovers to create something new and tasty. Nowadays most folks make this dish as an original meal. What makes this particular recipe different is the beer!
That’s right, cooking with beer. When cooking with beer, the first step is to find a beer you enjoy drinking! For this recipe, one needs to find a beer with a lot of flavor. A Belgian ale, a porter or a stout. These are three examples of beer with a lot of flavor. Some may wonder about the alcohol in the beer. After 5 minutes of cooking, the alcohol is what gets cooked off.
History of Shepherds pie
Shepherd’s pie is a traditional British and Irish comfort dish that grew out of thrifty home cooking. In the late 18th century, this was a leftover dish including meat and vegetables, and the earlier version, cottage pie, used beef; shepherd’s pie later referred to the lamb version. The name fits: “cottage” suggests a simple rural meal, while “shepherd’s” points to lamb or mutton. Originally there was a pastry topping to seal the meat and vegetables. Later on mashed potatoes was replaced as the standard topping, and both dishes became hearty staples across the British Isles and beyond.
Even though this is made with ground beef I’ll call this recipe Shepherds pie. In order to simplify this dish, the mashed potatoes can be made ahead of time. When you make the mashed potatoes it helps the flavors if both the meat mixture and the mashed potatoes compliment each other. How does one do this…have one or two of the spices in the meat mixture also in the mashed potato mixture. Easy!
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- In a 2 Quart pot fill with to 3/4 full with water and add 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Wash and peel potatoes. Cut potatoes into 1/4 and place into pot with water.
- Bring to a boil. And boil Potatoes until tender. About 15 minutes.
- Remove from stove and drain off most of the water but leave 1-2 tablespoons in pot.
- Mash potatoes with potato masher or fork. Mix in thyme and rosemary and butter. and set aside.
- In an oven safe 10 inch fry pan, heat up the pan on medium heat, add salt and meat. Brown the meat.
- Remove the meat and set aside. In the pan add the onions and carrots and sauté for about 5 minutes or so.
- Add the browned meat, peas, pepper, rosemary, garlic and parsley. Stir all and bring up to temperature. Add 8 ounces of the beer. Bring up to a boil and reduce the liquid by ½ stirring frequently.
- After the liquid has been reduced by one-half, add the ketchup and cinnamon and stir thoroughly. Remove from stove.
- In a small bowl place the flour and a couple of ounces of beer. Stir to dissolve the flour.
- Now add the beer-flour mixture to the meat mixture and stir. Return the fry pan to the stove and bring to a simmer to cook the flour and create the gravy.
- Once the gravy is to your liking, remove from the heat and spread the mashed potatoes on top and place in a 375 degree oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
