Mother's Day: Treat your mom to this Gordon Ramsay approved Shepherd's Pie

This Mother's Day, instead of going the usual route, why not impress your mother with this Chef Gordon Ramsay approved dish. Check it out...

Shepherd's pie, also know as cottage pie or hachis Parmentier is basically a pie made without an actual pastry crust, it has a layer of spiced ground meat (usually lamb, which is where it gets the name Shepherd's Pie from) cooked with gravy and onion and topped with a crust made of mashed potato. This pie is known to be of English origin pie and who better than celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to impart wisdom on English cooking. This recipe for Shepherd's Pie comes from Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in Atlantis Dubai, Bread Street Kitchen which is inspired by his London restaurant by the same name. While the menu boasts an array of English dishes like fish and chips, steak and kidney pie, his legendary beef Wellington, among other typically English dishes, the Shepherd's Pie is definitely one of the easier recipes to recreate.

Shepherd's Pie

So this Mother's Day, instead of going the usual route, why not impress your mother with this Chef Gordon Ramsay approved dish. Check it out:

Ingredients:

500gr lamb mince

500gr braised lamb shoulder meat (diced)

1 onion – diced

2 large garlic cloves – finely chopped

1 spring of rosemary

3 springs of thyme – tie the herbs up

1 bay leaf

1 carrot finely diced

Worcester sauce to taste

3 tomatoes chopped

1 large potato very thinly sliced – as for gratin

½ lt Chicken stock

300 gr plain mash mixed with 1 egg yolk

80 gr grated mature cheddar

Garlic roasted brioche crumbs

Method:

Sweat onions, garlic and herbs in a pan until totally soft. They should be pale and translucent with no color at all. Make sure you season the onions whilst sweating them off.

In a separate pan brown off the meat. Make sure there is proper color on the mince as it will not taste the same if it is too pale. Be sure to season and taste the meat whilst you are cooking it. Add the browned mince to the onion and mix in thoroughly. Deglaze the pan with chicken stock and add to the mixture. Add the tinned tomatoes, sliced potatoes, carrots and enough chicken stock to cover the mix. Bring up to boil and then immediately turn down and simmer.

When the mince is nearly soft stop adding stock and begin to reduce the sauce a little. Adjust seasoning at this point and add Worcester sauce to taste. Keep stirring and the potatoes will break down and thicken the sauce.

Add the diced lamb shoulder and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool.

Assembly:

Place the mix in pie dish and top with the mash and add some grated cheddar on top.

Cooking:

Bake in oven until hot and the mash is golden brown. Finish with garlic roasted crumbs before serving and fresh gated horseradish.

(Recipe courtesy Chef Cesar Bartolini at Bread Street Kitchen & Bar, Atlantis Dubai)