In early November I made a whole turkey while testing Thanksgiving recipes. The next day I shredded the meat, mixed it with whatever random vegetables I had to use, and topped it with mashed potatoes. This is when my shepherd’s pie obsession began.
A loose definition of a shepherd’s pie is “a dish of ground meat under a layer of mashed potatoes.” To be more specific, traditionally shepherd’s pie is a meat pie made with minced or diced lamb (hence the shepherd) topped with mashed potatoes. Swap out the lamb for beef and it becomes a cottage pie. Use leftover turkey and random vegetables like me and it’s just a delicious leftover pie.
In my non-traditional house, I consider any type of saucy meat or veggie filling baked under mashed potatoes as a shepherd’s pie and I kept that in mind for today’s recipe. Today’s recipe falls under the category of “choose your own adventure.” While I did most of my tests with ground lamb, I also tried bison and this recipe would be excellent with beef. If you love ground turkey that will work too. Any vegetarians in the house? Skip the meat and use a bunch of mushrooms. I am going to break down the basics of a shepherd’s pie plus some optional steps to make it taste even better. Then you guys get to be the captain of your ship and choose your own adventure. Either way you shake it, you’ll end up with an uber flavorful meat pie baked under mashed potatoes…delish! It’s comforting and a nice warm hug to make winter a bit better. Let’s jump in!