Gordon Ramsay’s Shepherd’s Pie Ingredients (serves 4)
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 500g minced lean lamb
* 1 large onion, finely grated
* 1 large carrot, finely grated
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
* 1 tbsp tomato puree
* Handful of thyme sprigs, leaves picked
* 1 sprig of rosemary, needles chopped
* 250ml red wine
* 300ml chicken stock
* 1kg Desiree potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (I used US Russet Potatoes)
* 50g butter
* 2 egg yolks
* Parmesan, for grating
* Olive oil
* Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Some tips when following his recipe -
1) Don’t grate the carrots, onions and garlic by hand like he did!
Just use a food processor to chop them up finely. Gosh, was my hand tired after grating 6 medium carrots and 5 big onions!
2) To save time, peel and boil potatoes first.
3) Then only you prepare the minced lamb.
4) Personally, I found the “gamey” smell of lamb a bit too overpowering despite putting lots of freshly cracked black pepper….I think the next time, I will add some ginger and lots more garlic to mask the smell!
5) When your lamb is almost done, i.e. there is just a little bit of sauce left, preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
6) I didn’t have fresh chicken stock on hand, and I used instead a cube of chicken bouillion/stock with a cup of water.
7) I always don’t know what to do with the egg whites when I use only the yolks, and therefore, I had used the whole egg intead of just the yolk. Worked as well here.
It would be good to serve this pie with a side of fresh green salad…but in my case, I had sliced cucumbers on the side. For the Chinese, it is often believed that when we have foods that are baked, fried or barbequed (considered as “heaty” or “yang” foods), then we must balance it with a “cooling” or “yin” food. In this case, it was the simple cucumber, which is very “cooling” to our body system…especially on hot days like today!