Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

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drmoss_ca
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Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by drmoss_ca »

I don't know if anyone cares about the difference anymore, but a traditional English shepherd's pie is made from minced lamb, whereas a cottage pie uses minced beef. What does one call it when fake soy meat is used? I don't know, but I'd love it if it could be called something that would suggest it is both made by, or is actually made with, the politically-correct, third-wave feminist social justice warriors that irritate even me, comrades. Yeah, it speaks to the degree of irritation when even I have problems tolerating their childish nonsense! Perhaps it shall be PC Pie (and for Canadians, if that suggests I'm culling members of the Progressive Conservatives for culinary purposes, so be it. Let CSIS find me and stop me.)

Essentially, this is a rather wet meat pie filling topped with mashed potatoes. Lots of variations are possible, but here comes the one I did today. Having almost nothing left in the way of fresh vegetables is an occasional tragedy in this household. This morning I discovered I was down to a bag of potatoes, some home grown carrots and a parsnip. Not even that most useful of all vegetables, an onion, and all the home grown scallions are gone. So here we go:

1. Wash and peel as many potatoes as you think you need for you deep oven dish. I used eight home-grown medium sized potatoes and peeled them with my new secret weapon.
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Makes KP duty a pleasure rather than a punishment. I say that as a die hard traditional peeler-user, too. Mostly I scrub potatoes with coarse steel wool, but sometimes you want the smoothest mashed potatoes, and all the peelings go in the composter anyway.

2. Cut the peeled potatoes into thirds or quarters and place them in a steamer for twenty minutes.

3. Take them out and mash them. I dropped them into the bench mixer, added a cup of skimmed milk, and about a TBSP of butter and set it off. I ground some pepper into it as it did its thing.

4. While the poatoes steamed I chopped the carrots and the parsnip. The parsnip went into the steamer for five minutes and when the timer was up I added the carrots for another seven minutes. Using inspired guesswork for times here.

5. I buy a large bag of dried morel mushrooms. (I'm allergic to ordinary mushrooms, but tolerate morels quite happily). I soaked four of them for twenty minutes in a couple of cups of water. When soft and spongy, I squeezed out the excess water and chopped them. Keep the water for later.

6. In a medium sized heavy pan I added a splash of black truffle oil, three home-grown garlic cloves crushed in a crusher which I note is from the same company as the peeler (no connection, just a satisfied user) and the chopped morels. Once these have fried for a minute I added one packet of fake meat (Yves brand Original Ground Round 340g) and stirred it. Then I added the steamed parsnip and carrots and mixed some more. I didn't do it this time, but three or four bay leaves can add something nice at this stage.

7. In a jug, place two heaped teaspoons of cornflour, two tablespoons of soy sauce, and three generous splashes of Worcestershire sauce. Mix it up until the consistency is no longer non-Newtonian. Add the reserved morel-soaking water and half a cup of red wine. Stir and pour onto the fake meat mixture. Cook on a low heat till the gravy thickens. Taste often (no purpose, it just tastes good).

8. Pour into a round pyrex oven dish.

9. Add mashed potatoes and make them smooth on the top.

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10. At this point I chose to add some black truffle. I keep mine frozen after they arrive from Paris.
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Then I use a truffle slicer:
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This is the cut surface after half of it has been shaved off:
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Then I get some Parmesan and shred it over the top:
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Now I can sit back and have a snooze. When it gets closer to supper time I shall set the oven to 350º and place the dish in there for about twenty minutes. Your oven may differ (mine is old but I don't want to change it as I know its quirks, temps and times inside out) so the thing is that the whole dish must be heated though, the cheese just browned but not burned. Lacking any other fresh vegetables today, this will probably be served with frozen peas (I hang my head in shame :oops: ) but some lightly steamed cauliflower, broccoli or brussel sprouts would be ideal. (A tip in passing - try cranberry sauce on brussel sprouts - it's a winner!) I'll try to remember to take a pic when it comes out of the oven.

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
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Sam
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Re: Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by Sam »

Truffles, wow. And the cheese looked sublime. Cranberry sauce with brussel sprouts? My daughter has taken to doing them in a saute pan with garlic and oil, and I wonder if a cranberry compote with orange in it might work as well, because I am thinking cranberry sauce in the can and I can not imagine that is what you meant.
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by drmoss_ca »

Here it is, out of the oven:

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It was yummy!

Sam, I have a large bag of fresh cranberries in the fridge which my wife is hoping I will turn into sauce, but if it turns out as well as the stuff in a can I will be surprised. So, yes, I did mean canned cranberry sauce with brussel sprouts. BTW, never buy frozen sprouts, get them fresh and steam lightly. Much more flavour.

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
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Scrapyard Ape
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Re: Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by Scrapyard Ape »

Good lord, that looks good. We will all be over to sample that next Thursday. Be ready!
~Greg
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fallingwickets
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Re: Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by fallingwickets »

make space for me too!!!!!!!!!! :D
de gustibus non est disputandum
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dosco
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Re: Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by dosco »

Dr. Moss:
I'd like to thank you for setting up this forum ... hope to see it full of interesting info as time marches on.

Your recipe for Sheperd's Pie looks excellent. My wife if half Irish and this dish is one of her favorites.

On a tangential note, I noticed the Zojirushi bread machine in one picture. Do you use it? Does it make good bread? When my father died, among the things I kept was his bread machine. I've always had mixed luck with it, and as my rekindled interest in breadmaking has taken hold I tried it last night/this morning for Sourdough. It came out OK, and will need tweaking, but I don't think it will ever compare to "proper baking" in an oven with a stone and steam.

Curious what your thoughts and experiences are.

Cheers-
Dave
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jww
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Re: Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by jww »

HOLY MOLY!!!! :shock:

How on earth am I to ever sit down to a shepherd's pie made by anyone else now?
Wendell

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drmoss_ca
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Re: Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by drmoss_ca »

Dave,
There is no better bread machine than the Zojirushi. I use it for wholewheat loaves, white loaves, dough for bread rolls and for pizzas. I have made a cake in it and even jam. Completely worth the money.

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
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Re: Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by Rufus »

I guess I'm too much of a traditionalist, or just plain unadventurous, but truffles and cheese is over the top. SWMBO makes a lovely cottage pie and coincidentally that's what we had for dinner last week; I like to have mine with peas.
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Re: Shepherd's Pie/Cottage Pie

Post by JRTASTER »

My wife's version incorporates the peas in the mix. Tastes good to me!
jr/John
Enjoying wet shaving, again.
jr/John
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