My friend Caelin is Carrie Bradshaw; she loves shoes, drinks out, writing, and she may or may not use her oven as a sweater warmer more often than for food. Oka, okay she is not actually Carrie Bradshaw, mostly because she does not have mysterious source of shoe-income, does not live in New York, does not have a TERRIBLE love life (Dave is lovely, did Carrie ever even have a British bloke?), and well, that might be it. In any case, she has one food recipe that she can make and she proposed we make it together for the blog, Gordon Ramsey’s (ha! of course) Shepherd’s Pie. It was delightful! The making of the food involved the requisite alcohol consumption, great night, 10/10, will do again. Oh, also check out her blog! The Life and Lies of Caelin Charge, she’s cool.

Gordon Ramsey’s Shepherd’s Pie

This recipe is tasty, and a different style than my previous shepherd’s pie. It’s funny, when Gen and I first started dating I made him a super simple shepherd’s pie, similar to my original post, he LOVED it but said he could do better. Months later he cooked up a tomato-based shepherd’s pie that was… terrible is not the right word, not-as-good is more like it. Anyway, with this memory, I was reluctant about the tomato in this recipe, but it was good, warm, homey. Also, I know, I know it’s Shepherd’s Pie when made with lamb, it’s a Cottage Pie when made with beef, and apparently it’s a purist’s dream when made with sheep, but for familiarity’s sake, we are calling it Shepherd’s Pie, even if you choose beef.

Ingredients

Meat

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 lbs ground lamb or beef
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 large onion (any colour), diced
• 1 stalk of celery, diced
• 1/2 tsp fresh Rosemary (or 1/4 tsp dried)
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp dried)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (or crushed in a press… Caelin and Dave have THE WORST GARLIC PRESS EVER)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1/2 (up to 3/4) cup of your favourite red wine (also known as a few glugs)
• 1/4 cup chicken stock

Potatoes

• 1.5 lbs of your favourite potatoes, we made it with reds this time, skin on!
• 1/4 cup of cream
• 3 1/2 tbsp butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Cube your potatoes, boil some water with a pinch of salt, add your potatoes, boil for 15 minutes, until tender. In the meantime start your meat section.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F.
3. In a hot, large pan, add your olive oil and ground lamb or beef. Stir over medium-high heat to brown the meat, as you are stirring, break the meat up with your spoon until it is in small pieces and fairly even. Add your rosemary, thyme, and garlic, and continue stirring. Add your carrot, onion, and celery, and continue stirring over medium heat until everything is nice and fragrant and well-combined.
4. Add Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, and red wine, stirring well to evenly combine. Allow the mixture to cook down over medium heat for a few minutes.
5. Add the chicken stock and allow the mixture to cook down again for 3-5 minutes.
6. While the meat mixture is simmering, strain your potatoes, add the cream, butter, salt and pepper, and half (1/2 cup) of the parmesan cheese, and mash well to combine and smooth.
7. Spread the meat evenly in the bottom of an 8 x 8 casserole dish. Top with the mashed potatoes and sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese.
8. Cook in the 400°F oven for 18-20 minutes, until the meat is bubbling and the potatoes have golden bits.

Stirring, cooking down, tasting, salt and peppering as needed.

Lovely layers of deliciousness. DIG IN (oh, wait, this was before we put it in the oven… cook for 18-20, then dig in)