Classic Shepherd’s Pie, A Childhood Favorite

Shepherd’s Pie is something I used to love getting for lunch every other week in my elementary school cafeteria. I know, I KNOW I was the weird 8 year old who was excited to eat shepherd’s pie while everyone else was waiting for pizza Friday… This is a true story, though!

I sincerely consider this dish as a childhood favorite of mine and *spoiler* this recipe beats my elementary school cafeteria’s, hands down! It’s hearty, and so flavorful, and the mashed potato topping is the best mashed potato recipe EVER.

| Makes 6-8 servings

Print this recipe below

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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 cups mirepoix (mix of onion, carrots, & celery), finely chopped (a lot of times, grocery stores will have this mixture pre-chopped all together for you!)

• 1 pound ground Lamb (ground beef works great here too)

• 1/4 cup white flour (a GF substitution will work here too)

• 1/2 cup frozen sweet peas

• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1 and 3/4 cups beef broth

• 1/2 cup grape juice

• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 teaspoon salt

PotatoTopping

• 2 and 1/2 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes

• 1/2 cup milk (I found any unsweetened and unflavored nut milk works here too)

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 6 tablespoons salted butter

• salt & pepper to taste

  • Optional: fresh thyme, for topping

Directions

Pour 1 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet (I love using a cast iron) over medium high heat. Add your garlic cloves and your finely chopped veggies and cook, stirring frequently for a couple minutes.

Increase heat to high and add in your ground meat. Cook until it is browned through. Add in your flour and cook this mixture an additional minute.

Reduce your heat to medium-high and add in the frozen peas, grape juice, your can of diced tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, dried thyme, and salt.

Bring this mixture to a simmer then reduce your heat to medium. Cook for 20 minutes at medium heat, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until you have a good thickened gravy.

Remove from heat and pour you mixture into about a 2 quart baking dish. Refrigerate until potatoes are done (you want your mixture to chill for as long as possible so the layers stay separate when baking.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Wash, peel and boil your potatoes until fork-tender; about 15-20 minutes. Strain when they are done

While your potatoes are in the strainer, add your milk, sour cream, and butter to the pot. Melt and stir together. Place your potatoes back in the pot, and use an immersion blender to combine everything. You can use a masher as well, just make sure everything is super finely mashed.

Season to taste with salt and pepper (I love going heavy on the pepper!).

Spread your potato mixture on top of your meat mixture. You can make markings on the top with a fork or spread it with a spatula and make small peaks in the potatoes.

Drizzle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil.

Bake in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown and the edges are bubbling.

Broil for 1-2 minutes on high to get the very tops of the potatoes crispy! WATCH IT BROIL. Make sure it doesn’t burn.

Remove from heat and garnish with fresh thyme as desired!

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