Lamb Shepherd's Pie
8 servings
330 minutes
One of the gastronomic prides of the British crown is a pie, for the preparation of which you will need a fairly large number of different utensils - from a saucepan to a baking sheet. Despite the apparent simplicity of the name, shepherd's pie regularly arouses interest among serious chefs - from Gordon Ramsay to Jamie Oliver. The latter even dedicated a separate column to this pie on his website, calling it quite intriguingly - "10 Things You Didn't Know About Shepherd's Pie". Among the amazing discoveries, Jamie cites, for example, the following: do not confuse country and shepherd's pies: the first is with beef, while the second is prepared exclusively with lam
1
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Rub the lamb shoulder with oil, a pinch of salt, and pepper. Place in a narrow baking dish, add a little hot water, and roast for 2-3 hours until the meat falls off the bone.
- Shoulder of lamb: 1 kg
- Olive oil: 50 ml
2
Remove the lamb from the oven and let it cool slightly in the dish. Then take out the lamb, remove the meat and crispy skin from the bone, and cut into large pieces. Pour the remaining fat into a clean container and add boiling water to the dish with the drippings. Set aside for a while.
- Shoulder of lamb: 1 kg
3
For the filling, peel and chop the carrot, celery, and onion coarsely. Sauté the vegetables in a large pot over medium heat, adding 2 tablespoons of the remaining lamb fat. After 5 minutes, add the rosemary leaves and sauté for another 20 minutes until the vegetables caramelize.
- Carrot: 4 pieces
- Celery stalk: 4 pieces
- Red onion: 4 heads
- Olive oil: 50 ml
- Rosemary: 4 stems
4
Add flour, lamb, bones, and the juice formed in the baking dish to the vegetables, and pour in 1.5 liters of water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Wheat flour: 1 tablespoon
- Shoulder of lamb: 1 kg
5
When the contents thicken, remove the bones and strain into another pot. Set the vegetables and meat aside. Reduce the sauce to the desired consistency. Traditionally, this sauce is called gravy.
6
For the pie base, peel and chop the potatoes coarsely. Boil in salted boiling water until soft. Drain the water, let the potatoes dry, then add butter, grate 50 g of cheese, season with salt and pepper, and mash well to a smooth consistency. Allow to cool completely.
- Potato: 2.5 kg
- Butter: 100 g
- Hard cheese: 100 g
7
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease the baking dish with the remaining lamb fat. Sprinkle the bottom and edges of the dish with breadcrumbs and rosemary leaves - this will add crunch to the crust. Gradually layer the mashed potatoes to form the bottom and sides of the pie, 1 cm thick.
- Olive oil: 50 ml
- Breadcrumbs: 60 g
- Rosemary: 4 stems
8
Layer the filling and a few spoonfuls of gravy sauce. Spread the remaining mashed potatoes on top to form the pie lid. Seal the edges well and create a nice pattern with a fork. Grate the remaining cheese on top, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and drizzle with olive oil. Bake on the lower rack of the oven for 1 hour until the pie is covered with a golden and crispy crust. Serve with green peas and sauce; for extra flavor, you can add some finely chopped mint leaves.
- Hard cheese: 100 g
- Breadcrumbs: 60 g
- Olive oil: 50 ml
- Green peas: 300 g
- Fresh mint: 3 stems