Shepard's Pie with a Q-Tease Twist

In my quest to take what everyone else makes for dinner and make it my own I got this idea. I was talking to my new wife Christine about something as simple as potato salad when this came to me. Quickly forgetting about potato salad I turned my complete attention to Shepard's Pie. Shepard's Pie is a meal made from leftover roasted meat. Mutton of beef was used to make this dish topped with mashed potatoes. These days with most meat already butchered in the local Butcher Shop or not so supermarket the meats are presented in smaller isolated sections of the whole animal. That is creating new opportunities to create new twists on old dishes. Here is my new twist on an old dish.

It is getting to be the season for savory dishes. I love Shepard's Pie, but not the clean-up so why not make individual portions in the potato skin. My meat of choice is lamb. Of course peas and carrots is my choice for this dish. Because it is set up as individual serving's peas can be easily substituted with corn. For the potato baking keeps most of that nice potato flavor and creates the individual serving vessel.

One of the nice things about this version is the ability to customize the individual portion. Christine doesn't like peas, I used corn in hers. My neighbor Debbie does not like lamb so I made a single portion of steak for hers. You can customize this to a variety of individual tastes.

Leftovers are set up like the original serving, individual; perfect for taking to lunch the next day or for heating up after a long day at the office. Here is how I did it. Please follow to the end to see how I will make it again. Although the beta version was very delicious, the next version will be a streamlined version that will make it more user friendly.

There are many modern versions of Shepard's Pie that incorporate ground meat. You can use ground meat if you prefer. I like to use whole meat and cut it into the size pieces I want. Frozen veggies are in very good shape these days compared to when I was a kid and all that was sold was WWII K-Rations or mushy, discolored veggies in a can of water. Today's frozen veggies (especially peas) are brightly colored, crispy and almost (not quite) as delicious as fresh. The potato is a nice russet. The russet is hardy and will stand up to the cooking and recooking.

Potato

• 6 russet potatoes.
• Preheat oven to 450° - you want to crisp up the skin.
• Wash potatoes and let dry. When completely dry, lightly coat with oil - Olive Oil, Canola Oil, or Vegetable Oil. Look at the potatoes and decide which side is flattest. Put that side down. Poke small holes in the top of the potato with a fork or knife.
• When oven has reached 450° cook potatoes for 1 hour.
• Remove potato from oven and let cool.
• When cool, cut a wedge out of the top of each potato from one end to the other almost as wide as the potato. (save this wedge and make steak fries later or home fries for breakfast)
• Remove the potato meat from the skin and place in a bowl. Get as close as possible to the skin being careful not to poke through the skin. (I left about ¼" of the meat in the potato)
• Mash the potato meat using a hand held masher with salt, pepper, half & half, garlic powder, onion powder and a smidge of freshly grated parmesan cheese. For a hearty dish, do not use too much liquid. My feeling is the potato should remain as intact as possible.

Meat

I use Lamb. You can use beef or pork or chicken or turkey or duck or.... !!!

1 lb. of meat will stretch for quite a few portions.

• 1 lb leg of lamb (you have to buy more, but that is another meal)
• Trim excess fat and cut into 3/8" cubes
• Place in bowl.

Meat Seasoning

• Rosemary, Fennel, Oregano, Black Pepper, Marjoram, Sage, Coriander, Cinnamon, Cumin, Celery Seed, Ginger, Crushed Red Pepper, Salt, Garlic, Onion, Dill Weed, Parsley and Lemon Oil
• I used fresh rosemary, thyme and oregano. My pepper is a blend of fresh ground black, white, and pink peppercorns. The balance I used from a jar.
• 1 teaspoon each pepper, salt, garlic, onion, fennel rosemary, oregano, and thyme. The rest of the seasonings are ½ teaspoon each.
• Place all seasoning in a bowl. Using your fingers, break up the seasoning. If you have a pistol and mortar you can really break up the fennel nicely.

Evenly distribute some seasoning over the top of the trimmed lamb and mix. Continue adding and mixing until you have each piece of meat evenly coated. Let this sit for ½ to 1 hour to allow the seasoning absorb into the meat.

Meanwhile, dice an onion. I used ½ of a red onion and a whole sweet onion. Chop 50 cloves of garlic. (50 Cloves of Garlic is my way of saying use what you like or to taste) Heat a pan with oil and sweat the onions for about 2 minutes then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the seasoned meat and cook through. Add 2 Tablespoons of unbleached all-purpose flour to thicken the mix and it coats the meat and onions. Add 1 cup beef broth. (I use low sodium granulated beef broth) Remove from heat and let sit.

Veggies

• Peas, Corn, Carrots or any mix you can imagine
• I use frozen peas and fresh carrots. Christine doesn't like peas so corn went into hers.
• I softened the carrots by sautéing them with a little oil for about 3 minutes in the pan I cooked the meat.

Assembly

• Fill the hollowed out potatoes with meat mix to within 1/2" from top
• Add peas or corn and carrots
• Drop about 3 tablespoons of mashed potatoes on top
• Grate more Parmesan cheese on top of each portion

Place these on a sheet pan and into a 375° oven for 40 minutes or until potatoes and cheese start to brown.  Serve with a garden salad. For this dish, I looked for a Cabernet Franc wine but could not find one. A hearty, robust, red wine would go great with this meal.

What would I do to make this better?

The above process is relatively quick and fairly easy. I love to cook and love going through the process of infusing as much flavor as possible.

The potatoes would still be cooked in the oven. I would get even closer to the skin, again being careful not to pierce the skin. You don't want the meat and gravy to leak out.

The peas. Well, frozen is the way to go. Sorry to all the purists out there but peas are a pain so frozen works for me. The carrots, still fresh and slightly sauted.

The corn. Chili and butter grilled corn with the husk on. Trim the kernels off the cob, the run the back of your knife down the cob to get out as much of the milk that is left as you can.

The meat. Slow cook that in a smoker. Season, cook the lamb until 145°. Cut into the same 3/8" cubes and go through the same process. I would fill the potato with more meat mix.

I would invite a lot more people to enjoy. I hope you all will try this and enjoy!

BBQ_MIke, Christine and Que Tease BBQ