Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's pie is a traditional English comfort food: a spiced, minced lamb stew, topped with creamy mashed potato baked golden brown.

The meat base

1. Cut the onion and the carrot into small dice, and sweat them in the oil.

2. Add the minced lamb, and fry it over a high heat, until its liquid cooks off and the meat takes on colour.

3. Sprinkle it with the flour, stir it in, then add the tomato purée and the Worcestershire sauce.

4. Pour in the meat stock, add the green peas, salt and pepper it, and cook it thick.

5. Smooth the meat base into the bottom of an ovenproof dish.

The mashed potato

6. Cook the potatoes tender in salted water, drain them, then mash them creamy with the butter and the milk.

7. Smooth the mash onto the meat, and rough up the top with a fork – this way its surface turns crisper.

8. In a preheated 200 °C oven bake it golden brown.

Tip: The peaks of the ridges drawn with the fork bake up the crispest – do not leave the top smooth.