Top of the morning folks. Welcome back to Sunday Gravy!

Before we get started I just wanted to say “Sláinte mhaith!”

Last weekend was indeed Saint Patrick’s day so of course the right family celebrated as we always do. We had a nice evolution in the preparing of the traditional Irish feast in that granddaughter #1 prepared, baked and delivered a delicious and damn near perfect Irish soda bread for today’s meal. She’s twelve and her culinary skills are already proving strong!

Nice job kiddo!

For the long time readers here, Saint Patrick’s Day is a regular feature on Sunday Gravy and today’s meal represents the third iteration of such. If you want to get game plan info prior to next year’s Saint Patrick’s day I have all the shit you need right here.

Here’s a traditional Irish meal what with the corned beef, the cabbage, the potatoes and what have you.

And here is where we made Irish stew.

There’s even a substitution in there for the more “delicate” readers who are not down with lamb. Ya pansies!

We’re getting to the point that if you cook these items and perfect them you can pretty much open up your own Irish pub! I’ve given you a lot of fooking recipes already!

So what do we do this year to add to your future pub menu?

I got it! Shepherd’s Pie! Shit yeah!

In reality we really should call this either a Rancher’s pie or the more traditional “cottage pie” since we saved the little lambies from the slaughter this year – catering to the wee folk you know – and we used ground beef instead of lamb.

“Hoo kinna be shepherd’s pie if there inna fooking shep?”

In all other regards this recipe is very traditional and is goddamn delicious. Yes, I say that a lot but everyone should give this one a go. It’s cheap, easy and can even be made for a weeknight dinner, provided you have some extra prep time.

I’m playing this motherfucker on repeat during football season. This is a goddamn keeper!

Did my dear departed Ma make a version of “shepherd’s” pie? Hell yes she did. Kind of.

Sort of.

Ma’s version involved browning some ground beef, adding in some chopped onion, frozen corn and some salt and pepper, cover the bastard up with some mashed potatoes and layer on some good old Middle American staple Kraft American Cheese Food slices and bake until the cheese melted and the potatoes browned.

Did a much younger version of myself love this shit while growing up? Damn skippy I did! Hell, when all you have for comparison sake is your Ma’s cooking or a TV dinner, you go for the homemade shit. No fucking way in bloody fucking hell would my parents ever let us try the fare from a traditional Irish pub. Not that we had one in our one stoplight town anyway.

“That way lies the Devil!”

Did I serve the very same version to my daughters as they were growing up and I wasn’t the fully realized world cook that I am now?

Yep. They still love that shit.

We can and will do better. Oh fuck yes we will do better. By taking the time to build the filling of the dish properly and getting a bit more traditional, we will elevate the “Be-JAYSUS” out of this dish.

Let’s get after this.

Shepherd’s (Cottage) Pie!

1 1/2 lbs of ground beef.

1 medium onion diced.

2 carrots peeled and diced.

3-4 cloves of garlic minced.

3 potatoes peeled and cut into cubes.

2 tablespoons of canola oil.

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.

1 tablespoon of ketchup. If you have tomato paste use it instead but you don’t have to buy a whole container of tomato paste since it’s such a small amount. Fuck it, squeeze in a couple of those carry-out packets of ketchup you have in that kitchen drawer next to the menus and the packets of grated parmesan and crushed red pepper from the pizza guy. We refer to that as the “bachelor” drawer.

1/3 cup of Guinness Extra Stout.

1/2 to 1 cup of beef stock.

2 tablespoons of flour.

1/2 tablespoon of dried thyme.

1 teaspoon of paprika.

1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt.

1 1/2 teaspoons of black pepper.

1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese for topping. Use Irish aged cheddar if possible.

First things first. Peel the carrots and let’s get to chopping!

You want to chop these pretty damn fine. This dish needs the “presence” of carrot but we don’t want big ass pieces of carrots. We’re aiming for a smooth consistent meat filling so chop them carrots pretty fucking small.

Ditto with the onion.

And an even smaller mince for the garlic.

Hell, as long as we’re chopping shit up, let’s go ahead and rinse, peel and cube up the potatoes.

Soak those potatoes in a bowl filled with enough water to cover. We don’t want these to turn an off-putting “baby-shit brown” color while everything else is prepping.

This may come as no surprise but we will be cooking in my trusty non-stick Dutch oven.

Add the oil into the heated pan and get the carrots softened first, since they are the densest of the vegetation.

Give these about 5-7 minutes to soften. Next, in goes the onion.

Cook these down for an additional 7 minutes or so until the onion is translucent. Then we add in the ground beef to get it browned.

This should cook for a few minutes, just long enough to cook the pink out of the ground beef. At this point you have the option of draining the fat from the browned beef. Optional because we will be building, in essence, a roux and what is a roux but flour and fat? If your conscience tells you to drain the beef then drain that fucker.

I however, did not.

Next we are going to add in the seasonings. In go the garlic, paprika, the thyme, salt and pepper, the Worcestershire sauce, the bit o’ ketchup and a nice steady pour of some Guinness. I said it was a third of a cup but it can vary a bit based on the thickness of the sauce. Then toss the flour over the simmering meat sauce and give a stir to cook out the floury taste. Finally add in the beef stock. Again the amount will vary between 1/2 to 1 cup based on the thickness of the gravy. I say gravy because that’s pretty damn close to what we’re making now.

Get that meat nice and browned and let the gravy start to just thicken.

Let this condense and tighten up until it reaches a nice thick but not too thick consistency. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile get a pot on the boil, add in some salt, bring to a boil and cook your potatoes. If you’re a talented multi-tasking cook you can cook the potatoes at the same time you’re making the meat filling. If you want to do these steps one at a time you can. Remember this fucker is going to finish in the oven so everything will be hot when it counts.

Cook the potatoes until tender. What is that, about 9-10 minutes or so? Sure sounds good.

Place the potatoes in your potato mixing mechanism and make some mashed potatoes. A little salt and pepper, a tablespoon or two of butter and a splash of milk should make these nice and fluffy.

Get out your favorite deep casserole dish and add in the meat mixture.

Put down that goddamn spoon and back away. BACK AWAY! I saw you spooning that meat mixture directly in your gob. Wait until it’s all finished you goddamn derelict!

Now we’re going to take our just made mashed potatoes and spoon them right on top of the meat mixture. Use a spatula to even out the potato topping.

At this point many recipes call for placing the casserole into a 350 degree oven and cooking until the potatoes are a nice light brown color and serving. We however will be topping with some cheese. NOT the Kraft American Singles shit that my Ma used, no sir. We will be using a mixture of aged English Cheddar and aged Irish Cheddar or as I call it the Belfast Agreement cheese topping.

Now, we will place in the 35 degree oven until the cheese is melted. I don’t like to overcook the cheese because it has a tendency to harden if overcooked. Here we go.

Since this was Saint Patrick’s Day we had to do the whole damn thing. Both of those linked recipes up there cover the corned beef cooking method but for a quick recap I take the pre-packaged corned beef, give it a rinse, pat it dry, rub some mustard over the whole thing – spicy brown mustard for this one – sprinkle the contents of the season packet over the beef, wrap tightly in foil, place in a baking dish and cook in a 350 oven for about 3 hours. Let rest for 15 minutes and then slice.

The baking technique allows us to slice the corned beef as thinly or as thickly as desired. See those fat slices? They are just as tender as the thin slices. Also by baking we not only keep the juices that would be boiled out by the boiling method, it allows the flavors to condense. Hands down my favorite corned beef preparation method.

Oh yeah, we still have some of that glorious aged Irish cheddar don’t we?

Oh my.

For serving, spoon some of the Shepherd’s cottage pie onto a plate, place a few slices of the corned beef next to it. Like horseradish? I fucking love it so there’s a dollop of it on top of the beef. Grab a warm slice of soda bread, a couple two-tree beers and get ready to celebrate.

I want you to enlarge that photo right there so you can get a good look at the consistency of the pie. That’s the ideal thickness right there.

The cottage pie is rich, savory from the beer, the onions, garlic and thyme. The carrot and the onion both lend a little sweetness. The potatoes are rich and hearty and the cheese gives a good bite from the cheese and a hit of salt as well.

Follow dinner with copious Jameson shots.

If you cook for family, work this fucker into the regular meal rotation. It can and should belong there. If the family isn’t too squeamish then use the ground lamb and you will be allowed to call it a true Shepherd’s Pie but this will do just fine.

Just fine.

Thanks as always for reading good folks.

Cheers!