Shepherds Pie
preparation

the the best lean meat from your roast lamb joint. This should now be ground coarsely. You can use the mincer or grinder attachment on your food mixer. you should also be able to find an old fashion mincing machine in a kitchen supply store, they are still made in Poland, I believe.

A common method of cleaning the last of the meat from the mincer was to put a slice of bread through. This can then be mixed in with the meat.

Assuming you don't have any left over potatoes, you will have to prepare them. Once again it is better to use cold potatoes, so boil them ahead of time. Drain and retain the cooking water. Mash while warm and add an egg and seasoning to mix in. The mash should not be sloppy (it will stiffen on cooling).

Cook carrots, chopped, either with the potatoes or separately, they should be just firm.

Fry some onions in oil until they brown, remove from heat and add the minced lamb. Add some flour and mix to absorb into the oil.

Add a beef stock cube or worcestershire (pronounced wuster) sauce or however you make gravy, together with the stock from the potato and carrots. A fairly thick gravy is needed.

Boil the mixture to cook the flour and add the carrots. I will allow you to add frozen peas, they go very well in this dish!

The mixture should be liquid, but firm enough to support the mashed potato when you put it in the baking dish. The consistency of mortar when you are building a brick wall is a good guide for what is required. (bet you haven't seen that in a cook book before). Next we will make and bake the shepherds pie.

IN THIS SECTION -

shepherds pie recipe intro
shepherds-pie part 1(this page)
shepherds-pie part 2
cottage pie