Wanderfood Wednesday - Mini Shepherd's Pies

 Some of you may have noticed that I took a week (or two) off of blogging. When life gets busy something has to give and for me it was the blog. Sorry- life happens. When you have 3 busy kids, a start up cooking business and a strange desire to join your oldest kids school PTO board, it gets hectic fast. It a juggling act and sometimes a ball drops. Ahh what can I say, I am human.

Anyway, this week one of my clients made a couple of special requests. The first one was for the super yummy Moroccan rack of lamb with Shiraz Sauce. The second request was for a traditional lamb Shepherd's Pie. I decided to make a fun twist by going with individual pies.

Aren't they cute??

The first step was to make the tasty meat filling. I had some wonderful grass fed lamb from a friend of a friend's farm. I started by browning 2 pounds of ground lamb in an oven safe skillet. Next, I added in some sliced leeks and garlic. Chunks of turnips and carrots were added to give it a rustic feel. I sprinkled some flours over the top and stirred it in to coat the ingredients. I deglazed the pan with some beer - yes weird I know, but it sounded good at the time and worked out to taste great. Finally, I added some beef stock a couple tablespoons of tomato paste and  seasoned with salt and pepper. The entire skillet was placed in a 350 degree oven and cooked for about an hour.

Look how hearty and thick this looks. The flavors were very deep and rich.

I filled the individual pans about 3/4 of the way with the lamb and topped with creamy mashed potatoes. The little pies were put under the broiler to brown. 


Seriously, these are the times I wish I had a torch. How cool would it have been to been to brown the potatoes with a flame thrower??!! Plus, I feel like torch could really help me keep those juggling balls in the air. If not then my friend Gini over at Big Fat Gini Blog and I would have an awesome time perfecting our Beavis and Butthead impersonations. Until then, my oven broiler worked nicely.

Wander on over to Wanderfood to see some other cool blogs and recipes today!