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Since The Café is celebrating St. Patrick's Day this week with Irish recipes, I thought it would be fun to take a little tour of the land which has inspired all these delightful dishes and I knew just the person to help me...........
Ingredients for the potatoes:
1 lb yukon gold potatoes
¼ cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb lean ground beef, turkey or lamb
1 heaping tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup chicken or beef stock
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary
1 teaspoons freshly chopped thyme
½ cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen English peas
Directions:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut into a large dice. Cook in a medium pot of boiling water for 10- 15 minutes or until tender and easily crushed. Drain potatoes in a colander and return to pot. Add in milk, butter, salt and pepper and mash with a potato masher until smooth. Check for seasonings and then add yolk and stir until well combined.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the carrots and onions and saute until the begin to soften and start to take color, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic. Add the beef and season with salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through about 4-5 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and stir to coat, cook for another minute. Add tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and reduce to low, cover and simmer lightly 10-12 minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened.
4. Add the corn and peas to the beef mixture and check the seasonings adding more salt and pepper if necessary. Spread the mixture into a 11x7 baking dish or pie plate. Top with the mashed potatoes. Create a seal around the edges using a rubber spatula to prevent the mixture from bubbling over.
5. Bake for 25 minutes or until the potatoes begin to brown. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.
Adapted from Alton Brown
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What stunning pictures, and what a wonderful vacation you must have had!! Shepherd's Pie is actually one of the recipes on my Bucket List and it's so simple, I'm not sure why I've never made it before. I'm going to pin this one so I remember!! Thanks!
those pictures are really lovely! wish I was there with a nice casserole of sheperds pie
What beautiful photographs! You painted a lovely picture of Ireland and give us a wonderful recipe for shepherd's pie as well. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary
Love shepard pie! but I never make it should make it sometimes, maybe this weekend!
What a fabulous trip Chris and a delicious dish!
I am drinking in these pictures, they are beautiful! Apparently, Ireland even has richer colors than we do! WHAT, it only takes four hours to drive across it?? It must be smaller than some of our states. I always pictured it bigger in my mind, all those different counties, so much to see with the cliffs, the farms, the countryside. The Shepherd's Pie yumm!!! I will have to print this one out, I do like Alton Brown. I used to watch his show, but can't find it anymore.
Those pictures are beautiful...and that shepherds pie looks WONDERFUL. This will go on our menu this week!;)
beautiful photos of the trip. Chris, it's hard to believe that you already a mum in law to someone..you look young!
Beautiful post on one of my favorite places to visit! We're going back next month to visit friends and play golf but would love to do a bicycle trip and see more of the countryside! Your shepherds pie look delicious 😉
Wow, you're right. It really is green. I'd love to be able to backpack around Europe like that. What a fantastic experience.
I also don't think I've ever seen shepherd's pie look so appealing. It usually looks like a brown blob with mashed potatoes on top. Your photo made me want some....badly.
Chris, thanks for sharing Lindsay (and Nick) with us!
I've never had Sheperds Pie and yours is enticing. Your pictures are post card perfect too!
I've never been to Ireland but have heard wonderful things about it from a friend whose family is from there. I have however had Shepherds Pie and love it. It's the perfect comfort food. Your photo makes me want to make some.
Love sheperd's pie and I love your picture of Ireland!
I never had Shepards pie, but I would love this dish. There are no ingrdients I wouldnt like. I may make this tonight, perfect for St. Patrick's Day! I also love the pictures. Ireland is so beautiful!!
Such lovely photos...thank you for sharing. Your shepherds pie looks very good.
Thank you for the lovely photos. That is a very pretty dish too!
I've never been to Ireland but one day...
Gorgeous pictures, Chris! Just beautiful.. makes me want to visit Ireland sometime soon 🙂 The shepherd's pie looks really delicious! Thanks for sharing 🙂
All the photos look gorgeous but the shepherd's pie ones are definitely tempting me this early morning! Yum.
Thanks for sharing.