Easy Southwest Shepherd's Pie Recipe • Food Folks and Fun (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep mash from sinking in shepherds pie? ›

To stop the mash sinking into the filling, allow the meat to cool before topping with the mashed potato. Freeze in individual ovenproof dishes for an easy meal for one.

These meaty, mince-filled and mash potato-topped pies are very similar, the difference comes down to the filling. Cottage pie is usually made with beef, whereas shepherd's pie is made with lamb. You can also add vegetables and aromats to the filling, such as onions, garlic, carrot, zucchini and rosemary.

This shepherd's pie recipe uses 2 tablespoons of flour to thicken the gravy but if you feel like the meat mixture is too watery, add in another tablespoon and stir to combine. You may also try simmering the mince mixture for longer so that the stock reduces down and thickens.

Cottage pie is made using the same or very similar ingredients to shepherds pie. Nationally Cottage pie is made with Beef mince and Shepherds pie is made with Lamb mince. The name "cottage pie" was first used at the end of the 18th century.

Residual moisture from the potatoes will drip into the beef below as it cooks, and too much of it will cause the potatoes to eventually sink. Aside from ridding your potatoes of excess moisture before you mash them, it also helps to cool the beef down, BBC Good Food shares.

Reduce Them Over Heat

You can also thicken your mashed potatoes by continuing to cook them on the stove with the lid off. Heat draws the excess moisture out of runny potatoes, leaving you with a denser finished product.

Classic Shepherd's Pie is a comforting casserole that consists of ground lamb, carrots, and peas simmered with Guinness, Worcestershire sauce, and herbs and topped with a cheesy mashed potato layer that's baked until golden and crisp.

But the truth is a Shepherd's Pie Recipe calls for ground lamb, not ground beef. The beef version of this Irish Classic is called Cottage Pie and has been a favorite in our house since our trip to Ireland a few years ago. But no matter what you call it's true comfort food.

The dish originates from the British Isles, but some might argue that it is an Irish dish by origin. The name "Shepherd's Pie" was first recorded in an 1877 cookbook. In this same cookbook, it was noted that the dish was of Scottish origin. During the period between the 18th and 19th centuries, money was very tight.

The easiest way to thicken shepherd's pie filling is by sprinkling a few tablespoons of flour into the ground beef mixture as it cooks before adding it to the baking dish. The starch in the flour will absorb the extra liquid and create a thick gravy.

Why do Irish people eat shepherd's pie? ›

It's called cottage pie in the U.K. because they use beef and in Ireland since the shepherds tend sheep, it's shepherd's pie. No doubt, the English put out an excellent cottage pie, but in Ireland it used to be a delicacy since the Irish couldn't afford beef they repurposed any unused veggies and meat.

Step 3: Two ingredients help create a gravy-like consistency in the shepherd's pie recipe: tomato paste and flour. The concentrated tomatoes disperse and lightly thicken the beef stock. The flour is stirred with the meat and then swells and reduces as the liquid simmers.

shepherd's pie, dish of British Isles origin that makes use of vegetables and chopped meat cooked in a casserole topped with or surrounded by mashed potatoes.

Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in its French version hachis Parmentier, is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked, formerly also called Sanders or Saunders.

Most workers ate their meat, potatoes and corn separately but workers of mainly Asian origins, combined their rations to create shepherd's pie, a more communal dish. The French-Canadian railway workers liked this new concoction, adopted the dish, and called it “pâté chinois”, which loosely translates to Chinese pie.

I'm not expert buy I would say your filling isn't thick enough or your potato needs bulking out with cheese. I'd say either your mash or cottage pie sauce isn't thick enough. Do you add milk to your mashed potato? I've found that mash made with no milk added stays on top far better.

Spread the mash properly

With potato-topped pies, always start with a ring of mash, using the side of the dish to scrape the mash off the spatula, working your way into the middle. This encases the dish in potato without messily pushing the filling up the sides.

Unwanted lumps are a result of mashing undercooked potatoes, so the key to avoiding lumps is cooking the potatoes correctly. Make sure that your potatoes are all cut roughly the same size so they cook at the same rate. And unlike pasta, potatoes should be started in cold water.