Shepherds Pie

So, my sister-in -law was visiting for St. Paddys weekend and said she would supply the Irish dinner.   Tim recommended Corned Beef and Cabbage but 'Queen' Mary who had received a growler of Liftbridge Chestnut Hill for her birthday www.liftbridgebrewery.com thought a cabbage and beer combo would be a bit much.  As a result, we thought Shepherds Pie would be a great alternative.    Total comfort food. 

Anyway, I had not made Shepherds Pie before and Tim sent Queen Mary to the Foodnetwork for choices.   When I reviewed their choice and looked at more, we ended up using Shepherds Pie, recipe courtesy Anne Burrell at   www.foodnetwork.com .  Why this one? Well, first it had lamb roast instead of ground beef or lamb.   If you're going to go with lamb, you might as well make it the good stuff.  Second, it included a cup of red wine.   What red meat is not enhanced by a bit of wine? 

Queen Mary picked up some ridiculously expensive lamb tenderloin and was too afraid to make the recipe since she had spent $40 on the lamb alone so we tag teamed it.
Mary sliced and diced the vegies and I did the cooking.

This is what it looked like up until making the mashed potatoes.

This is after the taters.  The the final, broiled topping version is up top of this blog.
While this is certainly not my own recipe, I do have a few comments:

• I added pepper to the ingredients in all places that added salt.
• Red wine could be skipped but if you do use it, use a wine that you can actually drink.  The cooking wines in MN grocery stores are horrible.   Go with more chicken stock if this is all you have.
• This is a healthy dish until the mashed potatoes.   We went with the levels of butter and heavy cream recommended because in this family, St. Patricks Day is a national holiday.  However, to reduce the fat and calories, milk, less butter and chicken broth can lower fat without compromising taste. 

Enjoy!