The busy Mom's Easy Quick Shepherd's Pie

by MuminBusiness

Sometimes you just need to get a meal on the table fairly quickly and there is no time for all the frills. Shepherd's Pie is the meal for you.

The evening meal in my home is always imagined as a time when the family will be together over a healthy hearty meal.

It rarely lives up to this ideal as usually one or more children are lamenting the presence of food that they have chosen not to like that day. I keep telling them about children in Kosovo but I think they miss the point. Well, they are pretty young.

Here is my Shepherd's Pie recipe. I hope you like it.

The background to the Busy Mom Easy Quick Shepherd's Pie

Let me start by saying that this is the 'no frills' version of Shepherd's pie. 

This is not for the food purist.  This is for the woman who is out of time and has no idea of what to make for the family in the evening.  

Earlier today around 530pm, I started wondering belatedly what to feed the family.  I scoured the freezer in a bit of a frenzy trying to piece together ingredients into something that looked a bit like a meal.  Unfortunately, my cupboards (like Mother Hubbard's) are bare.

First of all, I imagined some kind of rice delicacy with chicken but figured that would take too long and I did not have everything for it.

I then came across some frozen minced lamb and my mind raced back to my pharmacy internship where a member of staff had taken pity on this hungry-looking young married woman.  She gave me the simplest shepherd's pie recipe I had every heard.

In the years since then I have complicated it somewhat when I get time to play around with it.  However, when I am in dire need, I fall back on this tried and tested family favorite.

No frills Shepherd's Pie

No frills Shepherd's Pie


Prep time 25 min  -  Total time 50 min
Ingredients for 6 servings
1 Onion  • Garlic Powder  • A dollop of Worcestershire Sauce  • 3 tbsp Gravy Granules  • 900g Minced Lamb  • 1 -1.2kg Potatoes  • 1 Sweet potato (optional)  • 2 tbsp Mint Sauce (optional)  • Frozen Peas - as much as you like  • Oxo Lamb Stock Cube  • Maggi(optional)  • Salt  • Grated Cheddar Cheese for the top

Peel the Potatoes

Peel the Potatoes

I always start by peeling the potatoes and putting them to boil as this is the longest part of the recipe.

So I peel them using my handy vegetable peeler and then chop them into little bits with a kitchen knife. I find the smaller the segments, the quicker they boil. Don't go mad with the little segments, you may end up with mush!

A tip - Boil water in the kettle (if you have one) while you peel so you have hot water ready to go.

Put the Potato Segments into a suitably sized saucepan, add the water, some salt and I like to use a Vegetable OXO Stock Cube. Put on the Cooker and leave it to boil.


Chop the Onions

Chop the Onions

I had a few pictures showing you how I chopped the onions so I will put those further down. Ultimately, take off the outer skin, cut in half and chop the onion into little bits however you like.

Preheat the Oven to 180 degrees Celsius


Prepare the Shepherd's Pie Filling

Prepare the Shepherd's Pie Filling

Place the Minced Lamb into the saucepan, add the onions, a teaspoon of garlic powder and stir while waiting for the mixture to heat up.

Add the OXO lamb cube and stir it some more. When the lamb is cooked (completely brown) add the maggi liquid seasoning and Worcestershire sauce to taste (completely optional - You can just use salt and pepper).

Add the frozen peas and the mint sauce (if you like mint - It goes well with lamb).


Prepare the gravy

Prepare the gravy

Now traditional Shepherd's Pie usually has some form of tomato in it but I do not use this as it adds time and not sufficient taste to my recipe so I prepare gravy instead using good old Bisto Granules (Do you have gravy granules in the US?)

3 heaped tablespoons of gravy and very little boiled water makes a very thick gravy which adds a lovely taste to the filling.

Spoon it into the filling on the cooker hob.


Place the filling into the oven dish. Anyone will do, you will learn after cooking this once which size is suitable.


Mash the Potatoes

Mash the Potatoes

The potatoes should take about 15 to 20 minutes to boil depending on the size of the segments but do not rush it, there is nothing as horrible as crunchy mashed potato.

Drain the potatoes.

Using a masher, mash them down. We like to add milk and butter to it as well to add flavor to the potatoes. If you used a sweet potato then you will have a lovely, tasty orange color mash. I did not have any today as I am running low on groceries in the house - I know, I know, Slightly disorganized Mommy!

Take serving spoonfuls of the mashed potatoes and spread over the top of the filling until completely covered.

Sprinkle with your grated cheese


Bake and Brown in the Oven.

Bake and Brown in the Oven.

Place your Oven dish in the oven and see to the baby who is probably now wailing behind you (or is it just mine that does that?)

Leave it until it looks a nice brown to you (mine was slightly too brown!) - about 20 minutes.

Pull it out and serve it to pacing, hungry family!

Recipe  0.0/5 Stars (0 Votes)

Some more Shepherd's pie preparation images

Onion
Onion
Onion 2
Onion 2
Onion being chopped
Onion being chopped
Onion still being chopped
Onion still being chopped
Know Cubes - Lamb
Know Cubes - Lamb
A fancy Onion Chopper
A fancy Onion Chopper
Easier way to chop onion but I prefer my hand and a Knife
Easier way to chop onion but I prefer...
Maggi Liquid Seasoning - The best seasoning on the planet.  Made in Nigeria, marketed everywhere.
Maggi Liquid Seasoning - The best sea...
Minced lamb - straight from the grocery store and defrosted in the microwave
Minced lamb - straight from the groce...
Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce - Another fine flavor
Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce ...
Steamed up windows.  Note to self - Always put on the ventilator when boiling potatoes!
Steamed up windows. Note to self - A...
Mint Sauce in a Jar - You can get the fresh mint leaves if you like.
Mint Sauce in a Jar - You can get the...

Items used to prepare the Shepherds Pie

Kuhn Rikon 3-Set Original Swiss Peeler, Red/Green/Yellow

Don’t let the small size fool you. The Original Swiss Peeler from Kuhn Rikon is a powerhouse. Its super-sharp carbon steel blade cuts better that peelers that cost 3-4 times ...

Only $14.0

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Cook Pro Chrome Vegetable and Onion Chopper

Chrome finish onion and vegetable chopper

Only $14.11

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Victorinox 40520 Fibrox 8-Inch Chef's Knife

The R H Forschner by Victorinox Chef's Knife features an 8-inch blade that is 2-inches wide at the handle. High carbon, stainless steel blade is hand finished at Victorinox in ...

$49.52  $48.9

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I hope you enjoyed reading through my zany, quick Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Updated: 04/07/2012, MuminBusiness
 
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Comments

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cmoneyspinner on 10/30/2013

To this day, every Shepherd's pie or variation is a meal I will never turn down. It is such a comfort food.

MuminBusiness on 04/07/2012

It is pretty nice. Thankfully, everyday is not quite that bad with being unprepared. I usually try for a menu plan before the week begins but sometimes planning fails dismally and then recipes like this come to the rescue!!! Simple, Quick and lovely tasting! Screaming babies not withstanding :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

sheilamarie on 04/07/2012

Sounds just delicious. And no, your baby isn't the only one who gets clingy while you're trying to prepare dinner! They always seem to need the most attention while you're needing to get things done! I'm sure they loved your meal, though! I learned from my mother that it's best to plan what you'll have for dinner in the morning even though that seems counter-intuitive. Now that my kids are grown, I tend to do it more, but I wish I had done that when they were small!

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