Shepherd’s Pie

This is a flexible recipe that you can adapt to use any leftover vegetables, potatoes, or gravy you may have. Mine turns out a little different each time as I use up what I have on hand. Here is my basic recipe:

1 pound ground lamb (or leftover stew meat. Beef may be substituted as well)

1 small onion, diced

1 half rib of celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp beef roast spice mix (or 1 tsp each thyme, steak spice, rosemary, sage, parsley, or any mixture of these that you have on hand)

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

1/3 tsp black pepper

1-2 cups cooked vegetables (I prefer a mix of carrots and peas, frozen or leftover)

1 cup water (or leftover brown gravy or stock)

1 Tbsp corn starch (unless using leftover gravy that is already thickened)

5 medium potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed to your desired consistency with butter and milk if desired (or leftover mashed potatoes)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400C

• Cook ground meat in a large oven-proof frying pan (I use a large cast-iron pan) with a little butter if it is really lean. Once it begins to cook, add the onion, celery, garlic and spices. Continue to cook until the meat is brown and the vegetables are clear.

• Add the rest of the vegetables and your gravy, or water with corn starch. Once the mixture begins to bubble, taste the gravy and adjust the flavour with salt and pepper if needed.

• Remove from the heat and add the potatoes on top, spreading evenly as possible. I sometimes use a fork to add some texture that will brown nicely in the oven.

• If you do not have your mixture in a oven-safe frying pan, skip the previous step. Transfer your mixture to an oven safe casserole dish and then place potatoes on top. Proceed with adding texture and baking.

• Place the pan in the oven to continue cooking. If your potatoes were fresh, this should take approximately 20 minutes. If they were cooled, it may take longer. Use a knife to check the temperature in the middle of the potatoes until heated through.