The pie you make when the shepherd comes home to the cottage and has a party.

Dear reader,

Last week I cooked a rolled lamb shoulder and still have some of it left in the refrigerator. I thought I’d make a shepherds pie with a difference. It’s traditional to use lamb in a shepherds pie and beef in a cottage pie. 

I have no idea what to call this pie apart from lamb and beef pie topped with mashed potato. 

I hope the title of this post gives you an idea of what was going through my mind.

The reference to a party reflects all the peppercorns I cooked with the lamb last week. I love the way peppercorns create a party in my mouth when I add them to a dish.

I find the almost numbing feeling of the mucosa of my buccal cavity and the soft sensitive epithelium of my lips exciting. Yes, I know I’m a bit of an oddball.

Now you could be asking yourself, it’s November, and I live in Australia, why am I cooking pie when I should be making a salad!

Check out the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology for what’s going on http://www.bom.gov.au/.

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology Bureau National Operations Centre 

Satellite Notes for 0000UTC Chart Issued at 1433 AEDT Saturday on 13 November 2021

A complex low system is present just off the southeast of the continent. The low-level to middle-level cloud band associated with this system is visible over NSW, Vic and Tas.

A trough extends parallel to the eastern coast of Qld. Thunderstorms also, for northern tropics.

The remainder of the continent is primarily cloud-free, aside from low-level clouds from onshore flow over much of the continent’s southern coast. 

Lamb and corned beef potato mash pie

Ingredients

  • Leftover pressure cooker lamb and peppercorns
  • Tin of corned beef
  • Celery
  • Carrot
  • Onion
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Flour
  • Cooking sherry
  • Instant mashed potato
  • Grated cheese

Instructions

  1. Lovingly sharpen your cook’s knife (as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend Proverbs 27:17 NLT).
  2. Cut the lamb into small pieces. 
  3. Place the meat into a bowl with some flour and coat the lamb with the white stuff.
  4. Dice the celery, carrot, and onion and set aside.
  5. Warm a skillet and add some cooking oil.
  6. Put the floured meat and peppercorns into the skillet and gently cook to brown it off.
  7. Add in the contents of the tin of corned beef.
  8. Mix everything through until it’s evenly mixed.
  9. Add in the carrot, onion, and celery and allow it all to simmer until the vegetables have cooked through.
  10. Add a splash of cooking sherry and a good slug of Worcestershire sauce.
  11. Evaporate the liquid by simmering everything.
  12. Allow everything to cool in the skillet.
  13. Add a portion to a pie dish and put the rest in another container for another time.
  14. Make the instant potato mash according to the manufacturer’s instructions for use.
  15. Mix some grated cheese into the potato mash and lay it across the top of the pie contents.
  16. Put the pie into a moderate oven and cook until the surface of the potato mash has started to change colour to brown.
  17. Serve the pie however you like and with whatever you like.
  18. Before you eat, though, take the time to give thanks to the Lord and thank Him for his grace.

Thoughts on shepherding

Well, not really about shepherding as much as the inspiration for thinking of shepherds comes from Thursday’s verse of the day in the bible app I use. It was Psalm 23:4. If you want to read some background check out Matthew Henry.

Final thoughts

  • Would you mix your meats in a pie?
  • Do you like lots of peppercorns in your mouth?
  • How do you feel about instant potato mash?
The pie you make when the shepherd comes home to the cottage and has a party

15 Responses

  1. This pie looks amazing, with the side of potato gems, Gaz. Wonderful. I don’t mind mixing meats in a pie so long as the overall seasoning tastes right. Don’t mind peppercorns either so long as I can taste everything out – taste everything so it’s like one big party in my mouth.

    Don’t mind instant potato mash too. Then again, I don’t mind making my own potato mash from scratch. Can’t say the same about gravy though 😄

  2. The potatoes are the fluffy, yummy clouds over the cozy cottage. Love it! As for mixing meats in a dish: why not? I’ve seen recipes for meatballs that take both pork and beef or lamb. It’s all good. Cheers!

    1. Thanks Cecilia. One of my favourite combinations is pork and prawn in wonton soup 😊😊😊

  3. Instant mashed potato…is that from the packet Gary? My mum used to make it many years ago and it was from a cylindrical jar type thing but it was cardboard and the flakes had onion in it. Wow…memories.

    1. It’s a Bird’s Eye product. In the packet you can see the frozen potato and butter. Two and a half minutes in the microwave oven and voila, potato mash. It really suits the lazy cook in me.

    1. As a kid growing up, Mum didn’t have the fancy Chinese wines so she would use sherry and whiskey to cook with. Oddly enough, because Dad was a GP and his patients would give him whisky at Christmas there was always plenty on hand. My parents didn’t drink much alcohol but they liked to cook with it.

  4. I’ve mixed chicken and ham in a pie. Not sure about the peppercorns, though, and I can’t comment on instant mash as it’s years since I’ve had it. Your half shepherd/half cottage pie looks delicious.

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