Shepherds Pie | Done Proper

Shepherds Pie. Now what could be more English? Mmmmmm.



The following recipe is taken from the BBC h2g2 (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and therefore a pretty good example of British culinary expertise:

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherds' Pie has to be up there with the best of them. People would dispute it's pie-ish heritage but, oh no, not we...

Ingredients

* As much lamb mince as you think you could possibly need
* An onion - size depends entirely on how many you're planning on feeding
* A knob of butter
* Tomato purée
* Tomato ketchup
* Worcestershire sauce
* Salt and pepper
* Potatoes
* A glug of milk

Method

1. Chop the onion and then in a casserole dish melt the butter and soften the said onion.

2. Add the mince to the pan and brown all the way through. Cover the dish and let the lamb bubble away in its own juices, stirring occasionally. This can take some time.

3. When the lamb has browned thoroughly and the juices have reduced, add a good slug of tomato purée as well as a good slurp of Tommy K (tomato ketchup), a healthy glug of Lea and Perrins' (Worcestershire sauce) and stir rigourously.

4. Add salt and pepper to taste. You'll probably need to add more salt than you'd think - lamb mince can taste incredibly bland.

5. While doing the above you should peel and chop enough potatoes (about three medium/small tatties per person, plus one for the pot, to be sufficient - depends how think you want your mash!) and boil them until they fall apart without much persuasion. Don't over boil them as then they don't mash properly.

6. Once cooked, drain them, and mash vigourously, stirring in a knob of butter, as much milk as is necessary to make 'light fluffy peaks' and salt and pepper to taste.

7. Cover the mince in the casserole dish with the mash and bung in the over for 20-30 minutes until warmed through and golden brown on top. Serve with a green (broad beans, cabbage, broccoli) and relish.

8. You can add carrots, mushrooms or pretty much anything else to the mince to give it a little 'hon he hon he hon'1 ... not that it needs it. You can also use beef mince instead of lamb but then that would be a Cottage Pie rather than a Shepherds Pie - the concept's the same though.

Marvellous eh?