Shepherd's Pie With Scallion Cheese Crust

Total Time: 2 hrs 55 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs 15 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 lb ground lamb
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup carrot, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup green beans, snapped into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 lb cremini mushroom, sliced
• 2 tablespoons chili sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped (or more!)
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leave, chopped (see note at end of directions)
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves, chopped (i omit as i never have any on hand)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup red
• 1 (10 1/2 ounce) can beef consomme or 1 cup beef stock
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 lbs yukon gold potatoes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup scallion, cleaned and chopped
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Recipe

• 1 for the filling:.
• 2 pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees f.
• 3 heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a dutch oven or deep saute pan. brown the lamb and beef. remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon.
• 4 add the onions and carrots to the pan and saute until carrots are almost tender, about 5 minutes.
• 5 add green beans, mushrooms, tomato puree, thyme, parsley and cinnamon to the pan. stir and saute for 2 minutes.
• 6 next, stir in the flour, which will soak up the juice. add a small splash of water or if needed, and stir and cook about 1 minute.
• 7 deglaze the pan with a few more splashes of , scrapping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, then stir in the remaining and the beef consumme. taste and add salt and pepper, as needed.
• 8 return the meat to the pan and bring to a boil. cover, turn down the heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes until the lamb is fully cooked.
• 9 for the crust:.
• 10 peel the potatoes, cut them into large even-sized pieces and place into a pot of cold, salted water. bring the water to a boil and cook potatoes until they are tender, about 10 minutes. (potatoes are done when a knife can easily go through.).
• 11 when the potatoes are done, drain off the water, return them to the saucepan, cover with a clean tea cloth to absorb the steam and leave them for about 5 minutes.
• 12 remove cloth, turn on heat to medium. stir potatoes until fluffy and any excess water has evaporated. this will prevent your mashed potatoes from becoming starchy.
• 13 next, add the butter and mash them to a puree. season with salt and pepper. add 1-2 tablespoons of milk if pototoes seem too dry or stiff.
• 14 when the meat is ready, spoon it into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and level it out with the back of the spoon.
• 15 after that, spread the mashed potato evenly all over. (i like to sprinkle the mashed potatoes with paprika at this point - i love paprika!).
• 16 sprinkle the scallions on top of the potato, scatter the cheese over the scallions.
• 17 bake until the top is crusty and golden, about 25 minutes.
• 18 note: to save time, i lay 5-6 sprigs of thyme into small sauce pan with the beef consumme and simmer about 5 minutes, and then strain the consumme before adding to the filling. i don't like to cleaning and chopping fresh thyme.
• 19 one time we make this with leftover rare roast beef cut into large cubes. we simply skipped the step about browing the meats, and then added the beef after all the other filling ingredients. we did not simmer the filling as we didn't want to toughen the roast beef cubes.