Smoked shepherd's pie

[charray]

Been hungry for Shepherds Pie, so it was on for today’s cook.

FOR THE FILLING:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 pound ground lamb
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 medium onions, not peeled and quartered
• 3 carrots, peeled and split
• 1/2 pound cremini and/or button mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 level tablespoon tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp A-1 sauce
• ½ Tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ Tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 Tsp chopped garlic
• 1 level tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 ½ cups fresh beef stock
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE CRUST:

• 1.5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes - peeled & quartered
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/8 Tsp nutmeg
• 1 - 2 cups half & half
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup scallions, cleaned and chopped
• 1 cup mature Cheddar, coarsely grated

Peel the potatoes, cut them into quarters and place into a pot of cold, salted water. Bring the water to a boil and PAR-cook potatoes but keeping them FIRM

Take 2 onions, leave root and peel on, and quarter. Take carrots, peel and split in quarters length wise. Take the meat and break it up into roughly 1.5” x 1.5” pieces onto a frog mat. Also place the par boiled potatoes, quartered onions and carrots on the frog mat. Smoke & P-3 for 30 minutes.



Add mushrooms and smoke an additional 30 minutes.



Remove, from grill and heat EVOO over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or deep sauté pan. Crumble and brown the lamb and beef. Remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon.

While meat is browning, chop onions in a food processor and after removing the meat, add the onions to the pan and sauté until the onions are tinged brown at the edges - about 5 minutes. Chop (food processor) the carrots, add carrots and garlic to the onions and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms, tomato puree, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and cinnamon. Stir and sauté for another 2 minutes. Next, stir in the flour, which will soak up any remaining juice and cook another 2 minutes. Then stir in the wine, Worcestershire sauce and the beef stock. Taste and add salt and pepper, as needed. Add the frozen peas and return the meat to the pan and bring to a boil. Cover, turn down the heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes until the lamb is fully cooked. Depending on the amount of liquid you may want to remove the lid part way through to help reduce.

While this is simmering, finish cooking potatoes by putting them along with the half and half in a covered dish and microwave until they’re tender and ready to mash. Add the butter, nutmeg and, if needed, additional half & half and mash them to a firm puree (not to runny). Season with salt and pepper.

Turn the grill to 375º & P-0, to achieve an approximate 400º grill temp.

When the meat is ready, spoon it into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and level it out.



After that, spread the mashed potato evenly all over. Sprinkle the scallions on top of the potato, scatter the cheese over the scallions.



Place back on the grill until the top is crusty and golden, about 20 - 25 minutes.



The Money Shot



ENJOY!

[caseydog]

Nice cheesy version of an English classic.

CD

[Phubar]

Loving it!

[buccaneer]

You are a disgrace!
Hand that over, it's confiscated!

[NorthwestBBQ]

Very nice phood.

[Bonewagon]

Looks delicious.

[deguerre]

VERY nice. Ever tried making one with a smoked chuck? Bliss.

[1FUNVET]

Looks delicious.

[ubp_sanity]

Looks good, I might have to give this a go as well. Nice to see you've actually used some lamb in a shepherds pie.

Also, nice to see you didn't have that horrid layer of corn that seems to be so popular here in North America.

[deguerre]

Originally Posted by ubp_sanity

Looks good, I might have to give this a go as well. Nice to see you've actually used some lamb in a shepherds pie.

Also, nice to see you didn't have that horrid layer of corn that seems to be so popular here in North America.

Um, I've never seen a layer of corn in a shepherd's pie where I'm from.

[posey's_pork_pit]

Bravo! I have a good Shepherd's Pie recipe that I've used with leftover smoked lamb but I will definitely try your recipe next time. Loving the cheese element.

[ubp_sanity]

Originally Posted by deguerre

Um, I've never seen a layer of corn in a shepherd's pie where I'm from.

Maybe it's only popular here where I am, but the restaurants have it, even the frozen ones in the grocery store has it. Either way, it shouldn't be there in the first place.

My mum makes a great Scottish dish, Tatties and Mince, (mashed potatoes and minced beef) it looks very similar to this, but the meat and potatoes are served separated. Although it doesn't take long to mix them up into 1 big pile of food :-)

[NickTheGreat]

Yeah . . . I'm going have to borrow this sometime

[strmrdr]

That looks awesome!!! I love shepards pie I have never thought about smoking it. I will have to try it sometime. Thanks for the pics and the idea. We have a big fair in the area it runs for two weeks and I guess they had fried shepards pie this year, unfortunately I didn't make it there to try it. Must be a sign?

[charray]

Originally Posted by deguerre

VERY nice. Ever tried making one with a smoked chuck? Bliss.

Keep thinking I'll try using burnt ends it's just that they hardly make it into the house, let alone save for another cook