Savannah has had a nasty bout of cold and rainy weather (though luckily for us, it never lasts. This weekend looks to be sunny and in the 70s - woo-hoo!). We were in the mood for something new and cozy, so, totally seduced by his show on this a few weeks ago, I tried Alton Brown's Shepherd's Pie. If you have meat and potato lovers in your house, this is the recipe for you. But caution: this is not a good weeknight recipe. The recipe says 45 minutes to prep but it took me well over an hour to get it all together. Yes, much of that was because of little rugrats and their distressingly-easy-to-break-if-you-step-on-them toys that were underfoot, but still. This would be better to make on a Sunday afternoon, giving you the leftovers either for Monday lunch or dinner. That said, it was absolutely delicious and definitely a keeper. The original recipe with my notes follows.
Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients
For the potatoes:
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes (Whoa. Let's stop right there. Yukon gold potatoes make much, much better mashed potatoes - and potato salad - for that matter. I used 4 large ones.)
1/4 cup half-and-half (Clearly I am not a stickler for following someone else's directions, because I substituted this as well. I did 1/4 cup skim milk.)
2 ounces unsalted butter (This, according to my kitchen scale, is just shy of 4 tablespoons.)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
For the meat filling:
2 tablespoons canola oil (Again with the substitutions. I used olive oil.)
1 cup chopped onion (I used one medium-sized Vidalia onion.)
2 carrots, peeled and diced small (I love carrots in stews and soups, so I actually doubled this to 4 carrots.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds ground lamb (Sigh. Can't I do ANYTHING right? I'm beginning to think I didn't actually follow his recipe at all. Funny how I do all these things as I go along, and it's not until I start to write it all down that I realize how many liberties I took. But, our grocery store did not have ground lamb, so I substituted a combo of ground beef and ground pork. It was absolutely wonderful, but I would like to try it with lamb at some point. I supposed without lamb it's not even technically Shepherd's Pie, but Cowboy Pie or Pig Farmer Pie doesn't have the same ring to it...)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves (No more fresh herbs in the garden, so I just substituted 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary.)
1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves (See above, here I did 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme.)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup fresh or frozen English peas
Directions
Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. (Alton doesn't say anything about salting your water, but salt it just like you would if you were cooking pasta.) Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Place the half-and-half and butter into a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave until warmed through, about 35 seconds. (I skipped that step altogether. I just added them straight to the potatoes and figured they'd warm up enough. I did cut the butter into 4 or 5 pieces so it would melt more easily.) Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and then add the half and half, butter, salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk until well combined.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the canola oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and saute just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.
Add the corn and peas to the lamb mixture and spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place on a parchment lined half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Absolutely delicious! And perfect on a chilly and rainy night. Happy eating!
