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Potato-covered pies: shepherd's, cottage, fisherman's, etc.


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I recently made Shepherd's Pie from Country Cooking of Ireland and it was so delicious.  The ingredients?  Ground lamb, stock, carrots, tomato paste for the base and mashed potatoes made with cream for the top.  How so few ingredients can make something this good is amazing.

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1 hour ago, LivingMCM said:

I love this type of dish. Which is your favorite, and do you have certain recipes or methods that you find to work really well?

Here is my favorite Shepherd's Pie recipe.  I got it years ago from member @Marlene and I've never used any other recipe since.  

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50 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Here is my favorite Shepherd's Pie recipe.  I got it years ago from member @Marlene and I've never used any other recipe since.  

Harumph!  What is corn doing in a Shepherds’ pie?  @liuzhou  will be apoplectic if he sees this. xD

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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20 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Harumph!  What is corn doing in a Shepherds’ pie?  @liuzhou  will be apoplectic if he sees this. xD

LOL.  I never had corn in Shepherd's Pie before either.  My mom's (under the careful tutelage of my English step dad) didn't have any veg except occasionally leftover peas, if they were available.  I'm guessing that the recipe originally came from a Canadian, so don't blame me for the corn. 😁 

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34 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

LOL.  I never had corn in Shepherd's Pie before either.  My mom's (under the careful tutelage of my English step dad) didn't have any veg except occasionally leftover peas, if they were available.  I'm guessing that the recipe originally came from a Canadian, so don't blame me for the corn. 😁 

 I was simply teasing you. I have been known to sneak it in there too. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Blasphemy of the highest order! It'll all end in tears! We are doomed as a race! The end is nigh!

 

I do shepherd's pie as @Okanagancook does. As do all uncorrupted, civilised people.

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
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Quote

...shepherd's, cottage, fisherman's, etc...

 

I love them all, and, of course, there are a gazillion variations.

There's another, somewhat similar, upside down, concoction that I like.

It can be made with chicken, or turkey, or whatever.

Here is is in-a-nutshell.

Using a well greased spring-form pan, layer chicken and gravy (or whatever) in the bottom. 

Place a layer of fluffy mashed potatoes on top of the chicken and gravy layer.

Finally, place a layer of well seasoned bread dressing (stuffing) on top of the mashed potatoes.

Keeping the layer reasonably flat.

Bake until it's thoroughly cooked and the dressing is golden brown with some crispness to it.

Let cool a bit, FLIP, and then remove the pan! 

Garnish as you wish.

Or, it can certainly be made without the spring-formed pan and the flipping.

Serve with the dressing (stuffing) on top of the other two layers—covered with a little additional gravy.

Voila!!! yes.gif

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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1 hour ago, Okanagancook said:

🤯

how about that?

 

 

 

Nah. It doesn't come close to expressing the infinitely horrible horibbleness of the very notion. It put me right off my breakfast, it did.

 

Actually, I meant we need a “horrified“ button like the “like“ button etc. I was so discombobulated I typed 'emoji' by mistake. I'm going for a lie down. I've got the vapours!

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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What is going on. I just begin to slowly recuperate from the trauma of learning that people put c*** into shepherd's pies,  I begin to get my blood pressure back to normal and am innocently scanning the day's newspaper and some barbarian only posts a recipe for vegan lentil and celeriac shepherd's pie.

 

What kind of shepherd herds lentils?

At least there is none of the c-word in it. But really?

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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9 hours ago, kayb said:

If he had pearls, he'd be clutching them.

 

 That is the very best mind picture I have had in forever!

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I made a skillet version using mild chicken Italian sausage recently, a variation of a recipe I found in WaPo?  NYT Cooking?  I don't remember for sure.  It was a really simple filling with the sausage, onions, garlic, chicken stock, and a little tomato paste, roasted and mashed roasted sweet potatoes mixed with a little bit of butter and half-and half on top.  Made in an oven-proof skillet.  Very easy and fast to put together, and it made several nice meals.

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10 hours ago, liuzhou said:

What is going on. I just begin to slowly recuperate from the trauma of learning that people put c*** into shepherd's pies,  I begin to get my blood pressure back to normal and am innocently scanning the day's newspaper and some barbarian only posts a recipe for vegan lentil and celeriac shepherd's pie.

 

What kind of shepherd herds lentils?

At least there is none of the c-word in it. But really?

 

When I hear "shepherd's pie" I think UK. I'm not a huge fan of the dish, but then I don't much like ground meat in casserole dishes. And when I think UK I don't think "corn." However, if you emigrated from Europe to the American midwest and you became a farmer, you would no doubt throw in fresh corn if you had a stray ear, wouldn't you? And if you had fresh peas and fresh corn, making a succotash shepherd's  pie isn't such a stretch. 

 

Liuzhou, you must get really lousy starchy corn in China to hate it so much. I admit that lentils and celeriac topped with mashed potatoes does not sound very appetizing, and in that case, if you also happen to have some lousy corn, well, no help there.

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1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

Liuzhou, you must get really lousy starchy corn in China to hate it so much. 

 I do not mean to speak for @liuzhou who has shown that he is always capable of speaking for himself. However if he feels about corn the way I feel about lentils, the quality wouldn’t matter. If lentils were birthed of virgin mothers and raised on elysian fields watched over by  shepherds of the highest order I still wouldn’t eat them. :D  Chacun à son goût. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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5 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Liuzhou, you must get really lousy starchy corn in China to hate it so much. I admit that lentils and celeriac topped with mashed potatoes does not sound very appetizing, and in that case, if you also happen to have some lousy corn, well, no help there.

 

As @Anna N says it has nothing to do with the quality. Or China (which gets both sweet and starchy varieties).  I just don't like the stuff, never have and never will.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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On 1/12/2019 at 1:31 AM, liuzhou said:

What is going on. I just begin to slowly recuperate from the trauma of learning that people put c*** into shepherd's pies,  I begin to get my blood pressure back to normal and am innocently scanning the day's newspaper and some barbarian only posts a recipe for vegan lentil and celeriac shepherd's pie.

 

What kind of shepherd herds lentils?

At least there is none of the c-word in it. But really?

 

 

My understanding is that a true shepherd's pie should contain lamb. If it uses something else instead, then it really has to be called something else. Hence "cottage pie" for beef.

Hmm, what should we call a vegetarian pie?

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2 hours ago, FauxPas said:

 

Wiki suggests we call it a Shepherdess Pie. . 

 

 

 

 I’m insulted. So do shepherdesses herd lentils?  

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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