Lamb and Wild Mushroom Shepherd's Pie

Submitted by Dr. Jenny

"DH and I made this delicious shepherd's pie a few nights ago and really enjoyed it. We used two pounds of lamb chopped of from a big leg of lamb, rather than using blade chops. I also used salted butter with no problems. Even though I used a 9 inch pie dish as directed, my pie spilled over the sides into the oven while cooking, so be careful. The only problem was the bit of mess in the oven, the pie looked and tasted fine. The recipe is from Williams-Sonoma."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 20mins
• Ingredients: 18
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• For the Filling

• 2 lbs shoulder blade lamb chops, trimmed of fat, boned
• 1 lb assorted wild mushroom (such as cremini, portabello, and shiitake)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 large shallots, minced
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 turkish bay leaf, minced
• 1 3⁄4 cups beef stock
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• For the Topping

• 6 small yukon gold potatoes, peeled, sliced into rounds 1/4 inch thick (about 1 1/2 lb total)
• 1⁄3 cup milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1⁄4 cup chopped fresh chives

directions

1. To make the filling, cut the lamb into 1/2-inch pieces. Stem and cut the mushrooms into 3/4-inch pieces.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper, and allspice. Add the lamb and toss to coat evenly.
3. In a large nonstick fry pan over medium-high heat, warm 2 Tb of the olive oil. Add the lamb and saute until well browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
4. Add the remaining 1 Tb oil to the pan. Add the shallots and garlic and stir for 1 minute.
5. Add the mushrooms and the bay leaf and saute until well browned, about 6 minutes.
6. Return the lamb to the pan, stir in the stock and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the lamb is tender, about 45 minutes.
7. Uncover and simmer until the juices thicken, about 2 minutes. Transfer the filling to a 9-inch pie dish.
8. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
9. To make the topping, pour water to a depth of 1 inch into a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
10. Peel and slice the potatoes into rounds 1/4 inch thick. Put the potatoes into a steamer basket and set the basket over boiling water. (The water should not touch the bottom of the steamer basket).
11. Cover and steam until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a small knife, about 12 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl.
12. Add the milk, butter, salt, and pepper. Mash well with a potato masher. Stir in half of the chives. Spoon the potatoes on top of the lamb mixture to cover it completely.
13. Bake until the pie is heated through and the potatoes begin to brown, about 35 minutes.
14. Sprinkle with remaining chives and serve immediately.

Reviews

[rockymtni]

We really loved this recipe. It's a bit of a job to make, but delicious. I used leftover leg of lamb that we had marinated and grilled a couple of days before and it was very good, although I only simmered the whole thing for around 30 minutes since the lamb had been previously cooked. I also used a dehydrated mix of wild mushrooms that I already had in the house (from Costco!). Big time and money saver there.<br/><br/>The big thing I wanted to comment about is that I don't believe the calorie count on this recipe is accurate. I just couldn't imagine how these ingredients could come to this many calories per serving. First, these would be huge servings. I made this in a 13 X 9 glass casserole dish and there was plenty of filling and potatoes for this size dish. This is more like 8 servings than 4. Than, I ran the entire recipe through another online nutrition calculator and came out with 8 servings, at 364.6 calories apiece. This seems much more realistic. I just didn't want anyone who is watching calories to be turned off of what is really a wonderful dish because they got scared off by the nutritional values.<br/><br/>Finally, I prepared this entire dish the night before and it was still great. I did everything except bake it in the oven. Covered the dish with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight. When we were ready to eat, just preheated the oven and baked for 35 minutes.

 

[BrendaThurston67]

What a great twist to the traditional Shepherd's Pie! We loved it with the lamb and mushrooms! Even my fussy one liked this Jenn!