Shepherds Pie

I don't know how authentic mine is but I start with leftover roast beef that gets ground into my Kitchenaid meat grinder with a couple of onions.

Place that in the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish. Then, I layer creamed corn, then peas, finished off with a thick layer of mashed potatoes (you can pipe the potatoes if you like), a sprinkle of paprika and a few dots of butter.

Into a 375 - 400 degree F preheated oven it goes on a cookie sheet (to catch drips) until the top gets golden brown. For convection oven, bake at 350 degrees.

:p

Is it too late?

This just showed up in my mailbox today...in of all things my alumni magazine. Credited to Dr. Stephen Dilks from Lincolnshire, England.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef or lamb
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 carrots, diced
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
2 cups sliced mushrooms
3 Tbsp tomato paste
dash of Worchestershire sauce
6 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions

Brown meat in large pan, drain fat and remove meat.

Saute onion and garlic, adding cooking oil if necessary. Add vegetables and cook a few minutes.

Add tomato paste and flavor to taste with Worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper.

Add meat back and stir. Place in a casserole dish.

Pack mashed potatoes on top of meat mixture, covering surface evenly.

With a fork, rake the top of the potatoes creating peaks and valleys. Sprinkle cheese on top.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes, until heated through and cheddar is melted and bubbly.

To paraphrase a couple of posts on another site: it's hard to find a good shepherd's pie these days made with really fresh shepherds. Yeah, but the french still fry up pretty well.

:lips: ;)

Am I the only one? Every time I had sheppard's pie as kid, I would have a bite and... well... lose my lunch. :rolleyes: Still can't eat it to this day...

Suzanne, maybe you're right. Maybe there just weren't enough sheppards! :eek: :D

Fresh Cretan Shepherds

THAT, was interesting!

In Crete shepherds make the famous "Lamb Pie"
The concept is the same with Kimmie's recipe, they just add some fresh butter.

It's delicious! I can find you an original Cretan recipe, if you wish.

The main idea for shepherd's food in Greece is that they prepare things that they can last for days out of the fridge, since they are obliged to stay for quite a long time on the mountains!

When it comes to Cretan shepherds, believe me girls, they are never enough but are always fresh!!!

;)

PS Cretans are the most handsome Greek, scientifically speaking of course!!!

Original Cretan Recipe

Athenaeus,

You made me blush! :suprise:

Thank you for your kind words about Cretans and the most popular representative, Alex Zorbas.

My recipe of this shepherd’s pie is a Cretan original one.

Lamb Cake from Chanea, Crete (Arnotourta Chanion)

Pastry:
1/2 kg flour
1 yogurt
1 glass olive oil
salt

Filling:
1 kg lean meat (lamb, goat or veal)
1 kg cottage cheese (mizithra)
1 glass staka or butter
salt, cinnamon, pepper, mint.

Boil the meat. Cut into small pieces and sprinkle with salt, cinnamon and pepper. Knead the dough and place half in a lightly oiled oven dish, spreading evenly by hand to cover the whole surface. On top of the dough spread half the cottage cheese and half the staka. Spinkle with a little cinnamon and mint. Add the meat and half a cup of the meat stock in order to soften the dough. Cover with the remainder of the cottage cheese and sprinkle with cinnamon and mint. Roll out a thick sheet of pastry with the remainder of the dough. Place pastry on top of pie and trim edge. Brush top lightly with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in a low-heat oven for approximately one hour.

Staka is the traditional Cretan butter made of sheep’s milk. Its taste is distinctive. It’s staka that gives this excellent taste in Cretan dishes.
This pie is delicious. I suggest you not to have much because it’s a very heavy meal although it doesn’t look like!
I prepare it for my friends when we are gathered to watch a football match on TV with a glass of chilled white wine. No more pizzas and plastic food in my house!


Zorba

uh???

How many ounces in a glass, Zorba?

And thank you so much for this recipe. I shall try this, in JANUARY 2002 (sigh :rolleyes: )

Mani for ever!

Dear Zorba!

You saved me from calling my mom to ask for the recipe (she is from Crete)

I think the way to avoid the strong smell of the lamb in this pie is to saute the meat for a couple of minutes after boiling it! Otherwise, boiled lamb with cottage cheese doesn't smell so nicely...

In Crete shepherds make this pie from the left overs of roasted lamb!

BTW Dear Zorba, the original Alex Zorbas was not from Crete as many people think, but he was from Mani...
Check the book and you will find out that I am right!

Sorry about that!

I was just about to ask if that could be done. Thanks!


Zorba: I meant how many fluid ounces or ml in a glass?

:lips:

Shepherds Pie is a good comfort food which is why I like it creamed corn in it.

I do like the lamb idea, something to think about.

Kimmie

A glass of olive oil is about 200 ml

Mine is shredded pot roast and gravy, a layer of fresh grated carrots, mashed potatoes and sharp cheddar ontop......I make two pot roasts at a time so we'll have enough for shepard's pie.

What a wonderful post. Your right, the last time I was in Crete I remember seeing all those sheppards. And come to think of it, I think I remember all the pies, wrapped for the long trip, in the trunk of the Lancia...Or was it in line at the McDonalds ? It was a wonderful sight watching all the autos chasing the sheep around.:) :p :o :chef:
PS: from a mans point of view( rare around here) Italian men have it all over Greek men.:D

"Give me my lipstick back!"

This was an accurate description of modern Cretans,Panini.

As a man I do not have preference in men but from what I hear from Greek women they love Italians very very much!
The only problem that they have "reported" is that Italians have the tendency to rob them of their lipsticks and their mascara...
Something that Cretan shephards never do. Too old fashioned maybe- according to western european criteria!

:D

(The authentic housewives version)

I had shepherds pie in Australia and fell in love with it. Then I had a Canadian penpal, and got a different view.

He says shepherds pie is what most people do for leftover night. Throw some meat and veggies together, throw potatoes on top with cheese, sprinkle on some herbs for good measure, and wala! Dinner for the family.....

I don't think you can do it any wrong way.....

:chef:

Nah that's not right. Can't make shepherd pie, or pate chinois, with leftovers. Not where I come from anyway.


You have to brown ground beef with onions, put in the oven proof dish. Cover with creamed corn then mashed potatoes. Add a bit of paprika, for colour, very important says my mother.


When ready to eat, warm in the oven, the potato will become slightly crispy on top. Delicious with fruit ketchup.

Now, I seriously disagree Isa

The very best Sheppherd's Pie IS made with leftover roast beef. The texture and flavour is very different than just regular ground beef previously sautéed in a pan. Even Shroomgirl says she cooks an extra roast beef just to that end.

Then it is not a Canadian Shepherds Pie.

Expertise or experience?!?

It appears that Kimmie might indeed know a true Canadian shepherd's pie. It appears that she lives in CANADA?!?

:look: :look: :p :p

I think its kind of like tiramisu. Everyone thinks they make it right and best, but those people all make it in different ways. Should we discuss tiramisu too? It's one of my favorite topics....

~~Shimmer~~

So do I Shimmer. :) Our difference of opinion might just be a question of language. I'm talking about Pâté Chinois, the French Shepherds Pie assuming, maybe wrongly, that it is the same thing.

2 Cents:
This thread justs backs up what I had said in earlier post about exact formulas. Just like meatballs and minestrone. There is no exact formula. Peasant dishes have a few common ingredients and the rest is what has to be used up. I think this is true of every culture. The part of Italy we were from, we cook our meatballs in the gravy, put white fava beans in minestrine, and had our own version of sheppards pie using any left over meat and leaving the skins on the mashed potato.

Jeff
going to Germany to find the best German Chocolate cake recipe;) :D

You're right Panini. And funny too. :lol:

Isa,

It's English i.e. British :lol:

It's a penguin!!!
No No silly, on the tele!:D :lol:

I have been playing around loosely with the concept of "shepherd's pie," recently, so I kind of chuckled when I saw your post. I believe from what I read is that shepherd's pie is based on lamb and mashed potatoes. I think what attracts everyone to this dish is that is a major comfort food. Just think about it: mashed potatoes, and meat in a gravy. Straight to the heart of the american culinary psyche.
I usually think of shepherd's pie when I have left over mashed potatoes. Having left over mashed potatoes also entails having a left over roast meat product, be it leg of lamb, roast chicken, or roast turkey. With the meat, I usually cube, and add to sauteed onions, carrots, garlic and carrots. To this a liquid is added, usually stock (beef for meats and chicken for poultry). My herb of choice is almost alway fresh thyme. I think it matches perfectly. For beef or lamb I add a tablespoon of tomatoe paste to give me darker color and more depth of flavor. I thickin this with a cornstarch slurry. To me that is the best bet for taste and mouthfeel. Sorry, but I don't have the time to properly prepare a roux and just sprinkling flour on the mix gives me too much of a flour flavor, besides the cornstarch slurry means no extra fat. This thicken mixture is poured into a baking dish and mixed with frozen green peas. The topping of mashed potatoes is added, manicured, and dabbed with butter. The baking dish is put on a cookie sheet and put into a preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Then comes bliss....