Michelle and I love comfort food. Ever since I found out about Shepherd’s Pie while watching our favorite foodie TV shows, I’ve been dying to make it myself. I’ve watched Chef Gordon Ramsay‘s version of making Shepherd’s Pie on Youtube and he actually made it very easy (the video after the jump). Shepherd’s Pie is actually made of minced lamb. And since lamb is rarely available and usually expensive here in the Philippines, I tried using beef mince for this recipe I’ll be sharing today. So, technically I made a Cottage Pie. Both Cottage and Shepherd’s Pies don’t have bottom pastry crusts unlike standard pies. They are actually traditionally made with leftover roast meat, but, are now often made with ground meat, mostly beef or lamb, and topped with mashed potato.

  Here’s the video of Chef Ramsay making Shepherd’s Pie:

Now, here’s my recipe for making my own version of Cottage Pie. You can replace the beef with lamb, if you have that available, to make Shepherd’s Pie instead.

Cottage Pie

For Minced Beef:

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1/2 kilo ground / minced beef
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 medium-sized onion, grated
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Tomato Paste
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Chicken Stock (I used Knorr Chicken Cubes dissolved in warm water.)

 

For Mashed Potato:

Ingredients:

• 3 medium-sized Potatoes, peeled
• 2 egg yolks
• Salt and pepper
• Cheese

Procedure: Preparing the minced beef

1. In a hot pan, add olive oil and sauté the ground beef. Note: If the ground beef has too much fat, you can skip the olive oil and just brown the beef directly on the pan. Season it with salt and pepper.

2. Add grated onion & carrots. Mix well, then, add grated garlic.

3. Add about 1 tbsp. of Worcestershire sauce and about a tbsp. of tomato paste.

4. Add a pinch of thyme and rosemary. Adjust this to your liking.

Note: I used dried thyme and rosemary, one that you can buy at grocery store. I personally use McCormick products, but, any will do.

5. Finally, add about a cup of chicken stock. Mix well. Then, set aside.

 

Preparing the mashed potatoes:

1. Boil the peeled potatoes. Mash, then, add salt and pepper to taste.

2. Add 2 egg yolks and cheese to the mashed potatoes. I just used regular cheese since parmesan is too expensive. I made 2 batches of Cottage Pies and I used Quez-O cheese, then, Eden cheese. Both turned out yummy. But, if you have parmesan cheese available the better.

 

Preparing the Cottage Pie

1. Place cooked minced beef mixture in an oven-safe bowl. We used our soufflé bowls, which we bought from Living Well at SM Mall of Asia.

2. Top the minced beef with mashed potatoes.

3. Sprinkle cheese on top. Roughen up the top with a fork.

4. Cook in a hot oven for about 20-30 minutes until top is golden brown.

That’s it! This recipe serves 4-8 persons, depending on their appetite. 😀

Shepherd’s Pie… errr Cottage Pie done! (lolz)