Shepherd's Pie Recipe For the Ultimate Irish Holiday

Hello fellow foodies, or should we say, “Top O’ the Morning” because St. Patrick’s Day is upon us once more! It’s been awhile since we’ve done a post together, so we thought we’d team up and give everyone some recipe ideas for the holiday. This past week, we decided we would just go to the store, see what inspired us, and come up with a full dinner based on our findings.

Thanks to St. Patrick’s Day, there were a lot of holiday/Irish themed items on display. We decided to take this as a sign that we should make Shepherd’s Pie. A few months back, Nicole shared her Italian Shepherd’s Pie recipe, but this is more of a traditional Shepherd’s Pie recipe. Of course, it has a few creative tweaks. So, we bought all our ingredients, marched into the kitchen, and started cooking this Irish inspired meal side by side.

For those of you who don’t know, Shepherd’s Pie is a layered dish with a meat and vegetable layer, a potato layer, and a cheese layer. We used traditional vegetables for our meat and veggie layer, but we used ground beef rather than the traditional ground lamb. And to make it even more Irish, we added some Guinness beer to this layer for a nice full flavor.

Next is the potato layer, which we kept pretty traditional, but we used Yukon Gold potatoes for their delicate, buttery flavor. And for the cheese layer, we bought some wonderful, aged white Irish cheddar and smoked Cheddar that was on special. These cheeses really took this dish to the next level of goodness. There are a lot of these good cheeses on special right now, so we recommend you use them for this holiday meal.

This was actually a very simple dish to put together, especially when we were working together. We served the Shepherd’s Pie with a simple green salad (the greens of Ireland as we call it for theme purposes), Irish soda bread, which is a wonderful, light, sweet bread that everyone should try out, and of course, bottles of Guinness. This St. Patrick’s Day, why not have your friends over, put on some green, drink some Guinness, and put together a good ol’ Irish supper?!

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

For the Potatoes and Cheese layers:

8 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes

¼ cup milk

¾ stick of butter

1 tablespoon crushed garlic

Salt and pepper

1 ½ cups grated aged white cheddar

1 ½ cups grated smoked cheddar

For the Meat and Vegetable layer:

1 large onion, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

5-6 ounces white mushrooms, chopped

2 tablespoons crushed garlic

1 ½ pounds ground beef

¾ of a bottle Guinness beer (the ¼ cup remaining, is left for you :)

¼ cup tomato paste

1 lb bag frozen peas

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

For the Potatoes: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Quarter the potatoes and add to the pot. Cook until fork tender, about 20-25 minutes. Drain and return potatoes to the pot. Using an electric hand mixer or potato masher, begin creaming the potatoes. Add the milk and butter and combine together. Combine the grated cheeses in a bowl until well mixed. As you are blending, add 1 cup of the cheese. Keep blending until the potatoes are smooth and creamy. Salt and Pepper to taste. Set aside.

For the Meat: Heat 3 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, mushrooms, and garlic. Season with ½ teaspoon of each salt and pepper. Stirring often, cook until the carrots are tender, and the onions translucent about 5 minutes. Add the beef. Using a wooden spoon, break up the meat into small chunks, cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Pour in the Guinness and allow to evaporate into out, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Stir in the frozen peas and cook until warmed through, about 3 minutes. Season with additional pepper. Remove from the heat.

To assemble: Spray a 9x13 inch-baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, or you bake in individual gratins. Spread the meat and vegetable layer in an even layer at the bottom. Spread the potatoes in an even, flat layer over the top of the meat. Cover the potatoes with the remaining cheese mixture. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the cheese begins to bubble and turn golden. Remove and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

We wish you a fun AND safe St. Patrick's Day! May be as filled with good food as it is beer :)