Due to popular demand (or the one comment I got about it!), here is the basic recipe I used to make the Shepherd’s Pie the other night. I used this recipe on Epicurious as my base.

Ingredients:

• left over leg of lamb cut into pieces (you could use meat cooked for the dish or leftovers – very versatile!)
• 3 russet potatoes
• fresh herbs (rosemary)
• 4-5 carrots
• 1/2c. peas
• 1.5 lbs spinach, kale, etc.
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1-2T butter
• 2T flour
• 1c + 2T milk (+extra for potatoes) – warmed
• 2T parmesan cheese
• pinch nutmeg

Prepare Potatoes & boil carrots:

• pierce potatoes and bake in lower third of oven for 45-50 minutes @ 450 degrees. (Bake the potatoes so they will be stiffer than steamed/boiled) Cool 10 minutes then scoop out flesh and put thru a ricer. Stir in milk, salt, pepper, etc. to taste.
• Cook carrots in boiling water ~ 10 minutes. Add peas for last 2-3 minutes. Rinse with cold water to stop cooking.

Make Creamed Kale (or spinach, etc.):

• Cook greens in 1″ boiling salted water until wilted, 1-2 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Squeeze to remove water then coarsely chop.
• Cook onion in butter over medium heat stirring until softened, ~4 min. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring, ~ 2 min. Add warm milk and simmer, whisking, 3-4min. Whisk in parmesan, salt, pepper, & nutmeg to taste. Add spinach and cook until heated thru.

Put pie together & bake:

• In a deep pie dish spread meat on bottom evenly.
• Sprinkle carrots and peas over meat.
• Cover with creamed greens.
• Top with potatoes and smooth top with spoon. Brush/drizzle with butter if desired.

Bake ~1 hour @ 350 degress.

Note: I added the juices that were saved with the leftover lamb. Other than that I only used the creamed kale for liquid. This was enough and the taste was great.

Tonight I made a curry beef pie using whole wheat phyllo dough. It turned out to be fantastic!

The recipe follows…

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