ashmanra

Om nom nom shepherd’s pie! When do we eat?

Wish you could join us! We would finish the pie and have tea and cookies! :)

Is mashed potatoes an essential ingredient in shepherd’s pie? This is weird, I know, but I will eat potatoes any way except mashed (I always use “it’s a texture thing” excuse).

Hmmm, I have never heard of shepherd’s pie without mashed potatoes, but I don’t see why you couldn’t do a variation. Why ot top it with the hash brown sort? Or even very thin rounds of potato like in Potatoes Anna?

Yes, shepherd’s pie is layered. You’ve got your meaty saucy bit at the bottom and then mashed potatoes as a pie ‘lid’ with some shredded cheese on and then bake the lot. If you left the mashed potatoes out, you’d only have half the dish. You could make the bottom layer and use it as a meat sauce on regular potatoes instead I suppose. Or better yet, bake it into a real pie shell. :) It just wouldn’t be shepherd’s pie anymore.

I vaguely remember my mom doing something similar with canned biscuits on top. (Off to research recipes. My starting-all-over recipe notebook has exactly three in it.)