While Shepherd’s Pie is traditionally made with lamb, beef is just as tasty in this recipe. This is the sort of food that brings a smile to everyone’s face – that saucy, deeply flavourful filling, that creamy potato topping, and that awesome golden cheese crust!
When I shared my Cottage Pie on Facebook, there was almost an all out cyber-war about whether it was in fact Cottage Pie or Shepherd’s Pie. 😂
So let me just answer the burning question first, to get that out of the way:
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COTTAGE PIE AND SHEPHERD’S PIE?
Cottage Pie is made with beef and Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb.
Shepherds herd sheep. Not cows. That’s how I remember it!!
Other than beef vs lamb, they are essentially exactly the same recipe.
So a Shepherd’s Pie made with beef is Cottage Pie, and Cottage Pie made with lamb is Shepherd’s Pie!
If you’re new to Shepherd’s Pie, let me be the first to welcome you to your new favourite comfort food. Essentially, it’s lamb and veggies smothered in a gravy – and who doesn’t love an excuse for tons and tons of gravy? All those times you were limited to just a small drizzle on a few slices of roast lamb because there wasn’t enough to go around… Bah! This is how you get your gravy fix!!
There are a few stages to making Shepherd’s Pie, but it’s a straightforward recipe. There’s just two little things that you don’t see in most recipes, little things that bugged me:
- Cool the filling before topping with potato: It thickens and makes it easier to spread the potato across the top and it stops the potato weeping into the filling;
- Creamier mashed potato= easier to spread and just an all round better eating experience. I just don’t like dry, very firm mash. When I break through the mash, I want it to be borderline collapsing, rather than being able to cut cleanly through it like cake.
I stress again – these are little things that bug me, so feel free to by-pass them! – Nagi x
PS Yes, that crust is as crazy golden in real life as it looks in the photos. I even had to dial back the colour when I was editing the photos!
PPS One last time – Cottage Pie is made with beef. Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb! 😂 (Shepherd’s herd SHEEP!)
Shepherd’s Pie is one of those foods that brings a smile to everyone’s face – especially when you get seconds! Switch the lamb with beef, and you have Cottage Pie. Terrific make ahead! Recipe video below.
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 1 carrot , finely chopped
- 1 rib celery , finely chopped
- 3/4 tsp each dried thyme and rosemary (or 2 sprigs fresh thyme + 1 sprig rosemary)
- 750 g / 1.5 lb ground lamb (mince)
- ¼ cup / 35g flour
- ¼ cup / 55g tomato paste
- 2 cups / 500 ml beef stock / broth
- 1/2 cup / 125 ml red wine (or water)
- 1 beef bouillon cube , crumbled
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 dried bay leaves
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1.2 kg / 2.2 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into 2.5cm / 1" cubes
- 2/3 cup / 165 ml milk (whole or low fat)
- 2 tbsp / 30g butter
- 2 – 3 tbsp grated parmesan , optional
- 2 tbsp / 30g butter , melted
- Fresh thyme leaves, optional garnish
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Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook for 1 minute. Then add carrots, celery, thyme and rosemary. Cook for 3 minutes or until softened and sweet.
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Turn heat up to high. Add lamb and cook, breaking it up as you go, until browned.
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Add flour and mix in. Add tomato paste, broth, red wine, bouillon cube, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Stir well.
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Bring to simmer, then turn down heat so it is simmering rapidly - I have it on medium. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it reduces down to a thick gravy consistency (Note 1) (see video).
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Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Transfer Filling to 1.5 litre / quart pie baking dish. Stir through peas. Cover, then refrigerate to cool for 1 - 2 hours or overnight (optional, Note 2)
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
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Cook potatoes in boiling water for 15 minutes or until soft. Drain then return to pot on turned off stove. Allow to steam dry for 30 seconds or so (Note 3).
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Add butter and mash until melted, then add milk, salt and pepper. Mash until it's soft and smooth (ie spreadable, but not sloppy), adjusting with a touch more milk if required.
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Spread mash onto pie, use a fork to draw squiggles over the surface. Sprinkle with parmesan, drizzle with butter.
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Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until deep golden on top and bubbling on the edges. Stick a knife into the middle to ensure it is piping hot.
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Stand for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with fresh thyme leaves if desired.
* Carrots and celery are used to make a truly great mirepoix / soffrritto flavour base for this pie. However, they can be omitted, but add 1 tsp of sugar instead.
1. Whatever the thickness of the sauce when you pour it into the dish, that's what it will be once baked - no steam escapes while baking to allow it to reduce any further. So keep cooking until it's the consistency you want - you don't want it too runny otherwise it's like lamb soup!
2. Cooling the filling ensures that the potato doesn't weep into the filling and makes it much easier to spread. If you are in a rush - as I often am - pop it in the freezer while you make the potato. That works pretty well.
3. Watery potatoes drops excess liquid into the filling which makes the sauce watery and can make the potatoes weep into the filling. So don't skip the step of steam drying the potatoes! Also, make sure the mash is hot when spreading onto the pie. Cold mash is hard and impossible to spread.
4. Variations: If I'm making this for company or am on a calorie-blow-out mission, I add a big handful of cheese into the potato (cheddar, tasty, gruyere, Monterey Jack). It doesn't need it, it's a bonus. 🙂
For the filling, sometimes I reduce the amount of lamb and add chopped veggies like zucchini and spinach (frozen thawed or fresh).
5. Make ahead instructions: Fabulous for making ahead. Assemble pie but don't bake it. Once cool, then either refrigerate or freeze. Thaw if frozen (it will take way too long to bake from frozen) then bake as per recipe.
6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 6 servings.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
LIFE OF DOZER
The petting zoo is now officially open for business! The star attraction is back to his usual cheerful self and seeking confined-space-entertainment.
Now for the fun part – rehab. He is being such a sook about it. 🙄
* For those playing catch up, Dozer completely destroyed his ACL (rear knee), underwent surgery and is 2 weeks into a 3 to 4 month recovery period. Challenging for this highly active dog!
Hello Nagi, Big hug to DOZER. HE is beautiful boy! Looks healthy. Nagi once again thank YOU for laugh Re:explonation about two pies . Never thought about MEAT used WHAT is on hand. Love THEM both, crusty masu is MY favoured. BE good, Stay HAPPY and healthy!
Hug passed on!!! 🙂 N xx
hi Nagi,love your recipes..and they are all great.thanks a lot.shepherds pie is the best.i still do….thanks again for all your great recipes
Thank you for the compliment Lia! 🙂 N xx
What a clever idea!!! LOL. This is such comfort food. As always, your photography makes even the most comforting food look elegant!
That’s very kind of you to say Peter, thank you! N x
Hi Nagi,
If I make this dish ahead and refrigerate, how much longer will it need to bake in the oven?
Hi Doreen! It will take the full 40 minutes 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, love your work. I cook loads of your recipes and they are all great…..thank you.
Re Shepherda Pie, well I’m an old girl (aka matured aged lady…lol). My mother was Scottish and she always cooked shepherds pie the traditional way I.e making it by using minced up left overs from the Sunday roast, be it beef or lamb, also using up any remaining gravy. I still do my shepherds pie the same way whenever there is left over roast meat (albeit no more Sunday roast lunch). The rest of the recipe is very similar to yours though. It does have a different texture and taste to the raw mince version but it is yummy.
Thanks again for all your great recipes
Oooh I LOVE hearing that Chris! That’s so wonderful hearing that! N xx
Made it last night Nagi. Very, very nice.
Balanced flavor, looks good and tasty, will certainly make it again. Thanks for the recipe.
YES!!! So pleased you enjoyed it Rein! N xx
‘Rein’ – are you Estonian ? Since my first name is ‘Eha’ I daresay you know why I am asking 🙂 ?
Hi Nagi, I made this today with chicken broth as I didn’t have any beef bouillon cubes and omitted the red wine (only had white), but it turned out wonderful. Thank you for the recipe 😊. I have tried several of your recipes and each one was very delicious and easy to make and most importantly, involved ingredients I already had on hand. Thank you!
I’m so pleased to hear that Naira! Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed this! N xx
I have only had cottage pie.. but your recipe looks much better than any I have had..
Just beef, corn and potatoes.. Sounds pretty boring now!
Thank’s for the new recipe, if I could only drive myself to eat a cute little lamb 🙂
Dozer is so cute! I pray he will recover without issue.. maybe chamomile tea would mellow him out 🙂
That’s not boring!!! 🙂 That’s essentially all Cottage Pie is – and it’s SO GOOD! N x
You teach me things I did not know I wanted to know 🙂 ! Since I but rarely eat potatoes had not thought of the obvious difference but am glad I now know ! The lamb part will be copied ‘your way’ to go with other sides . . . happy time is a’passin’ and Dozer’s ‘lockup’ time shortening . . . . this is probably harder on you than the spoilt Lordship !!! With cold winds on the beach would a second ACL problem bring as much attention ?
Spoilt Lordship! BA HA HA!!!! That’s EXACTLY what he is!! N xx
Hi Nagi, the controversy of Cottage versus Shepherd’s pie has been forever in my mind. I could not understand that there was a difference until you just pointed it out in this post. Now it all makes sense and “ the Penny has finally just dropped”. They say you learn something new everyday, well close to it! Thank you.
I’d have no hope of remembering the difference if it weren’t for “shepherd’s herd sheep”!!! 😂
Hi Nagi 🙂
I have just recently discovered your blog and I’m loving it 🙂
Can you tell me which red wine you prefer to use in this recipe?
I don’t cook with wine often so I’m unsure of which one to buy.
Hi Jasmine! Any dry red will be fine with this, I just get discount bottles from Dan Murpey’s – cab sav, merlot etc. Because it’s not a major ingredient, don’t worry even if you don’t have wine, just leave it out! N x
God bless Dan Murphy’s on-line: sure makes my life easier and so much cheaper 🙂 !!
I have made this, but in our winter months. It was awesome! I had to tell you this: I was just looking at the ‘Spanx’ website and was watching a little video on ‘arm tights’. Yeah. I said arm tights. Anyway, guess what music they played? The same music you have in your video. I saw yours first, of course, and thought about your shepherd’s pie the entire time! It made me laugh!!! and cry because yeah, I was looking at arm tights…
ARM TIGHTS???!! Ba ha ha! Last night I was watching one of those reality investment shows and someone was trying to pitch EAR SOCKS!!!! That’s so funny about the music, I heard it on a major TV ad recently too! N x
In our family Shepherd’s Pie has always been made with minced left over lamb roast. You include some of the gravy from Sunday lunch as well. Honestly if you’ve never tried it please do!!
My problem is that we NEVER have leftover roast lamb!! 😂
While both obvious and technically correct that shepherd’s pie is a lamb casserole, you’d be hard pressed to find it made that way at 99% of diners, restaurants, grade schools or secondary schools in the US, nor would you be at all likely to find cottage pie on any menus, nor many Americans who have ever heard of the term cottage pie. In the US, Shepherd’s pie is widely regarded as a beef casserole, irrespective of the contradiction implied by the word “shepherd.”
Beef has been substituted for lamb in shepherd’s pie in the US since time immemorial, due to the historically dominant nature of the beef supply in the US, but the name of the casserole had remained the same regardless of that substitution. I’m sure there might be some very rare commercial exceptions, and a few home cooks who employ such distinctions in some part due to their familial origins or heritage, but if it’s featured on a home or commercial menu anywhere in the US, it would make sense to simply anticipate that it will almost certainly consist of beef rather than lamb.
Why that seems to disturb and upset people so, has always escaped me, particularly if one is not actually a diner who’d expected a lamb dish and been served one with beef, instead. Just using the name for a beef casserole does seem to offend certain sensibilities for some reason, I guess, but it is not as if cottages had ever herded cattle either, nor that there any bits of anything resembling cottages in a cottage pie, so I somewhat fail to understand why that would be a more fitting or appropriate term for pie consisting of beef. All things being equal, except for the actual type of meat employed, “shepherd’s pie with beef,” might better clarify what it actually is. Plus, in a contest between a shepherd and a cottage, I’d bet my boots and put money on the fact that a shepherd would fare better at herding cattle, too! 🙂
PS: You might really be shocked by what is called a scone in certain parts of the US, too! In many places it might be exactly what you would think it would be, although in some quarters scones might also be called biscuits or shortcake too, but in some Western parts of the US scones can be something Entirely unexpected! For examples of the unexpected, Google “Navajo scones” or “Utah scones” or “Navajo tacos.”
Yes!! My first encounter of an American “scone” was in Starbucks!!
Oh, at Starbucks it may just have been the typically poor facsimile of a traditional scone readily available nearly throughout the US, at both chain restaurants and even in most bakeries now, unfortunately. There are many such abominations as that, sadly.
If it was a Starbucks in the Western part of the US, it might have been a Navjo or Utah scone… If it was deep fried! Some parts of a few Western states have never even heard of, much less seen, a traditional scone.
“Scone” is the common term in parts of the West for referring to a variety of Native American Indian Fry Breads, which are very popular.
Wynn – you just answered a question that was burning in MY mind! I never understood why it was such a big deal to Americans, now I know!! There you go 🙂 N xx
I’ve seen some of the fierce conflicts online concerning what is and is not a shepherd’s pie! If someone’s mother or grandmother had called it one thing or the other, the gauntlets are instantly thrown down to defend and uphold those family traditions.
Widespread sheep farming never became established in the US because the cowboy cattle ranchers in the Wild West of the 19th century had effectively discouraged it through systematic violence and sabotage. They hadn’t thought cattle would be able to survive on prairie shared with sheep. There have always been smaller scale sheep operations and heritage flocks, though, and more so in recent years again due to fiber enthusiasts. Llamas, alpacas, and yaks have become popular, too.
Well. This just screams at me! Gotta make it, this weekend. I can tell this is a ten by the ingredient list!
Dozer looks wonderful!! Such an incredibly beautiful face, with so much expression in his eyes. I love that dawg! 😀
Dozer Your a good boy.. my daughters dog had a serious op an had to be confined like your boy.. hated it. very long process as you know .when you take him outside for toilet see if you can lift both legs up with a towel under both, very important ,, more so if you have stairs.. All the best an speedy recovery Dozer ♥
Thank you for the tip Colleen! I have a harness for him which helps support weight on his back end when his legs are tired and he’s struggling to go to the toilet. I hope your daughter’s dog is now ok? 🙂 N x
LOVE that this screams at you!! 😂 N xx
Hii what is a substitute for the beef cube and broth ? Can I use chicken cube and broth ?
Hi Niki! You sure can – the colour won’t be quite as dark but still super tasty! N x
Hi Nagi,
Good to see Dozed is making a comeback. He’s looking much more cheerful.
Never thought of making Shepherds Pie including cheese. What a great idea. Will give it a try.
Jonathan
Just a wee sprinkle makes the most AMAZING CHEESE CRUST!!! 🙂 N xx
Love to cook with your recipes always tastes amazing and most are easy to make. Thanks
I’m so happy to hear you are enjoying my recipes Kim! Thank you for letting me know – N x