Shepherd's Pie or Cottage Pie

Got a special request from my daughter to make Shepherd's Pie for dinner. I make this pie quite often as it is a favourite of both my kids. Rummaged through my freezer, I found a tray of minced lamb. Hence, I happily obliged to her request.

I used minced lamb, hence it is called Shepherd's Pie. The variant based on minced beef is usually called Cottage Pie. There is no hard-and-fast rule about the fillings, but chopped onions, minced carrots, peas are the traditional ingredients. This pie is without pastry, topped instead with creamy mashed potatoes. Browsed through Gordon Ramsey's 'F-word', found out that he adds Worchestershire Sauce, dash of red wine and tops it up with Parmesan Cheese. I skipped these caused I have none in stock.

While I was preparing the pie, I recall reading this on English newspaper:

"A row over the correct way to make shepherd’s pie ended up in court after a disagreement between two brothers turned violent".

Yeap. The story went like this : M made his brother J, a shepherd's pie. J insisted that it should be topped with a layer of tomatoes. M, being a chef, claimed not necessary and responded by hitting J over the head with a shovel. J then threatened to blow up the flat. Both ended up in court. J admitted a breach of peace. The judge told the defendant that, in his view, there was no need for a layer of tomatoes on a shepherd’s pie.

Delia Smith’s shepherd’s pie recipe makes no mention of tomatoes... but... a layer of cheese-crusted leeks!

My version looks like this:

It was definitely a nice warming dish with it feeling like snow will fall at any minute.