Classic Shepherd's Pie

★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★

Authentically named Cottage Pie, but more widely known as Shepherd's Pie, this is a traditional Irish dinner loved by just about everyone and is easy to bring to your dinner table.

Easy and Filling

Cottage pie is the ultimate comfort food, made with seasoned ground beef, beef gravy, peas, carrots and then topped with mashed potatoes. The potatoes are crisped to a golden brown in the oven for the final touch.

This recipe is easy and delicious! There are a few ways I make my cottage pie extra tasty without very much extra effort.

First, I use red potatoes. I love their flavor. OR I use russet potatoes and add cheddar cheese. Both options are a win! Your choice.

I add red cooking wine to the beef gravy. Just a few dashes adds a rich, sophisticated favor without a lot of extra effort.

The Difference Between Cottage Pie and Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's pie is actually made with lamb whereas cottage pie is made with beef.

★ How to Make this Recipe ★

This classic dish is actually quite easy to make, especially if you have some leftover mashed potatoes to work with.

The full recipe is listed below but here's a quick look at the steps involved in preparing this classic cottage pie:

• Peel, chop and boil potatoes. Drain.
• Mash and blend potatoes with sour cream, butter, salt and pepper, parsley and cheese (optional).
• Cook ground beef and vegetables (peas, carrots, onion).
• Add beef gravy plus fresh rosemary and cooking wine (optional).
• Add beef and vegetables to baking pan or use cast iron skillet.
• Layer with masher potatoes and bake.

Simple as that!

Try using Ground Turkey

You can lighten up this classic dish by cutting fat without cutting all the flavor.

My favorite way to do this is by using a blend of ground turkey and ground beef. I do this a lot when I make classic Italian dishes and it works really well. I usually do half and half ratio.

If you want more traditional beef flavor and don't mind a few extra calories, then go ahead and make this with just beef.

Want an ultra light version of this cottage Pie? Go ahead and use all ground turkey.

Try other meats.

You can use cubed steak or lamb if you want to add a more sophisticated flavor to this dish. Experiment and see what you like best!

If you're using lamb, then you can call this Shepherd's pie.

Mashed Potatoes - Homemade, Store-bought, or Instant?

Listen, I love mashed potatoes and I love short cuts. Almost equally. So this is a really tough question for me to weigh in on.

However, I do have a definitive opinion on this subject. Homemade mashed potatoes are better. Hands down. There are somethings you can short cut without loosing a lot of flavor but mashed potatoes isn't one of those. In my opinion.

Now, if you're a fan of boxed mashed potatoes, or you just don't have the kind of time it takes to peel, cook and whip all those potatoes into shape, I get it. Not judging. Do the boxed! But if you're asking me what's better, I'm going to say homemade every time.

You can also get the best of both worlds and opt for store-bought masher potatoes that come ready made to save time. Usually you can find these in the refrigerator section of the grocery store.

Homemade Gravy

This recipe calls for canned gravy but often times I will make this with homemade gravy. I like to use leftover juices from pot roast as gravy. You can also make a quick homemade gravy using beef broth + a roux to thicken it and some added beef bouillon.

I have a tutorial for making chicken gravy. Follow the same steps using beef broth (bones optional). Check out the gravy tutorial here.

Adding Wine (Optional)

I also like to add a splash of wine to my gravy to give it more flavor. You can use dry red wine, marsala wine, cooking wine or even a bit of red wine vinegar. I've also used a little bit of whiskey!

What kind of potatoes work best?

It's all about flavor here so I prefer red potatoes. They are a bit more time consuming to peel since they are so small but worth it!

You can also use gold or white potatoes. Any potatoes work, so choose your favorite or use what you have readily available. As I mentioned, when I use white potatoes, I add cheese for extra flavor. However, this is optional.

Potato Upgrades

The fun of this recipe is that you can flavor your potatoes and give this dish a whole new spin. You can certainly stick with classic mashed potatoes but stir in some cheddar cheese and you'll get cheddar potatoes, use sour cream and chives whipped potatoes for a burst of extra flavor or try mashed sweet potatoes!

If you're making Cottage or Shepherd's Pie for the first time, I would go with regular mashed potatoes. Then experiment with other flavors the more times you make this recipe.

For cheesy potatoes, try any type of cheese! Just stir the cheese into the potatoes after you mash them. The cheese will melt when you bake this whole dish. Mmmmm....

Veggie Upgrades

Traditional Cottage Pie recipes call for peas and carrots but you can substitute any veggies you want. Or add extras. Veggies I think taste great in this dish are: corn, spinach, celery, bell peppers, yellow beans, broccoli, zucchini, squash, asparagus and/or parsnips. Basically, any combination of vegetables you love!

What to serve with Cottage Pie

What I love about this dish is it truly covers all the food groups. So you really don't need to serve anything with it. It's a complete meal in itself.

However, if you want to be a bit extra, you can serve with a side salad, fresh baked honey milk bread or beer bread, and an Irish beer!

★ Storeage ★

Freezer

Instead of baking, you can freeze this pie for later. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.

To reheat from frozen, bake covered at 350˚for about 35-40 minutes. Remove foil about for last 10 minutes of baking to achieve a golden brown crust on top.

Note: If freezing in a glass baking pan, be careful to slowly heat up the baking dish along with the oven to prevent cracking and shattering of the glass due to too rapid of a shift in temperature change.

Refrigerator

You can store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Cover tightly in plastic wrap or store in a airtight container.

Remove plastic and reheat using the microwave. I usually poke the potatoes with a fork before heating to vent.