“Not-so” Shepherd’s Pie

With St. Patrick’s Day approaching, an Irish dish seemed fitting, and I decided on Shepherd’s Pie. Since authentic Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb, I wanted to incorporate that instead of ground beef. I couldn’t find any ground lamb, so an opportunity arose for me to improvise. I went with roasted boneless lamb leg. Since I had to include potatoes, vegetables and cheese, I boiled the veggies and potatoes while making an asiago and cheddar cheese sauce to cover the lamb and potatoes. It isn’t what you would consider a pie, but with all of the necessary ingredients incorporated, it is an Irish meal with a lot of flavor that will please the whole family.

Ingredients

2 tsp Black pepper

5 tsp Salt

2 tsp Rosemary

2 tsp Oregano

2 tsp Thyme

4 tsp White sugar

1 tsp Basil

10 Cloves garlic (minced)

6 tsp Butter

1 pint Heavy Cream

1 cup Asiago cheese

½ cup Dubliner cheddar cheese

1.5 lbs Boneless lamb leg

4 Carrots (chopped)

2 ears off the cob/1 can Corn (I used fresh)

½ lb/1 can peas

2 lbs Small red potatoes (quartered)

Process

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine six cloves of garlic, two teaspoons of salt, ½ tsp of pepper, and all of the rosemary, thyme, and oregano; set aside.

Generously rub the seasoning you created onto the meat and place into a baking dish. You are going to want to keep the lamb meat as intact as possible; mine had a thin piece of meat connecting to larger pieces so I cut it in half to form two distinct cuts. Cook for about 25 minutes for medium-medium rare (internal temperature should be about 140 degrees when you pull it out of the oven). Cover and let the meat rest for 5-7 minutes before carving.  

Place potatoes in a pot of boiling water and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

In a medium sauce pan, melt 1 tsp of butter. When fully melted, add the corn, 2 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of pepper and enough water to cover the corn. Bring the water to a slow boil and simmer until corn is tender (about 12 minutes). If you are using a can, cook according to the directions on the can, but you can still add the salt and sugar.

In another sauce pan, add one cup of water and the remaining 2 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil and add carrots. Cook until carrots are tender (about 10 minutes).

Cook peas in a pot of boiling water for about 2-3 minutes. If using a can, follow directions on can. Add salt to taste.

In a medium sauce pan, melt remaining butter. Once melted, add the cream, 1 tsp of salt, ½ tsp of pepper, the basil, and remaining garlic. When the cream is warm, incrementally add the cheeses, constantly stirring with a whisk. If the cream isn’t warm enough or you add too much cheese at once, the cheese won’t melt fast enough and it will become clumpy. Once you have added all the cheese, simmer until the sauce thickens to desired consistency.

Proper timing is essential when cooking this recipe, so plan ahead.

Taste Test

The “multiple foods in one bite” method isn’t just for Thanksgiving. I created this recipe with that in mind. Occasionally during my meal, that perfect bite, which contains all of the ingredients on the plate, would wind up on my fork and a harmony of flavors was emitted onto my palate.

The lamb was well-seasoned, and the flavors meshed well with the cheese sauce. It was tender, and the texture merged well with the potatoes and other veggies. The carrots and corn were sweet and added a great dimension of flavor.

The cheese sauce seemed strong while it was simmering, but once it was added to the potatoes and lamb, it was fantastic. The garlic and basil weren’t overpowering and flowed well with the seasoning on the lamb.

Leftover Quality

Nothing was noticeably affected sitting in the fridge over night. Reheating the lamb made the meat more medium than medium rare but that was expected.

Overall Grade

I give the recipe an A-. It was delicious but lacked the “wow factor” needed for an A+.