shepherds pie

Back in November, I had some Shepherd’s (Shepard’s) Pie off the hot bar at Chatham Marketplace. It was pretty much the most amazing thing I have ever eaten…that contained meat. I emailed their chef to get the recipe, but he never got back to me. I ended up making my own seasonal version with some local lamb, veggies and scavenged potatoes.

1 – I started with a bunch of rainbow carrots from Black River Organic Farm (45 miles).

2 – I sautéed the carrots in goat butter with some leeks and kale from Robb’s CSA along with some wild garlic that I picked last summer.

3 – To the sauté I added some ground lamb from Rainbow Meadow Farms (103 miles). This stuff is good, but rather expensive. Good for a once in while meal, which is why I only bought a few pounds of the stuff. I will probably use ground beef for this dish in the future, thus changing its name to Cottage Pie.

4 – Brown the lamb with the vegetables. Add some salt if the butter you use is unsalted.

5 – Add a bit of beef stock or do like I did and add some leftover beef stew.

6 – Simmer with the beef stock until the mixture gets somewhat thick. While that is going on, boil two pounds or so of potatoes and mash them when they get soft.

7 – Place the lamb and vegetable mixture in a baking dish.

8 – Cover the mixture with mashed potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for thirty minutes.

9 – Serve with mixed salad, steamed kale, bread and goat cheese.