Shepherd’s Pie with Truffle Cheese Mash
Bex Blundy
6
30 minutes
3 hours
Shepherd's pie with truffle cheese mash is an unctuous upgrade on a British classic, layering slow-cooked Pyrenees lamb shoulder in a rich, deeply savoury sauce under a creamy mashed potato top folded through with truffle cheese mash. The lamb cooks until it pulls apart with the touch of a fork, the sauce concentrates the flavour, and the topping picks up just enough earthy truffle aroma to lift this truffle shepherd's pie into special-occasion territory.
Served alongside a punchy wild garlic and mint sauce, zippy with apple cider vinegar, it has just enough acid to cut through the richness of the lamb.
Ingredients
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x2 milk-fed Pyrenees lamb shoulders
2 bay leaves
1 white onion, cut in half
1 bulb garlic, cut through the middle
A handful of celery leaves
500ml beef stock
200ml red wine
2 carrots, grated
2 sticks celery, grated
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Generous dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dried thyme
Salt & pepper, to season
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500g potatoes (ideally Maris Pipers)
200g Tomme de Vache with truffles
80g crème fraiche
30g butter
100ml whole milk
Salt and pepper, to season
Truffle dust (optional, but recommended) to intensify the truffle flavour
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20 leaves wild garlic, washed well
5g mint leaves, stripped from their stems
1 tablespoon white sugar
60ml apple cider vinegar
Drizzle extra virgin olive oil
Salt, to season
Directions
Preheat the oven: to 200°C
Slow-cook the lamb shoulder: Place the shoulders in a large pan with the onion, the garlic, the celery leaves, the beef stock, the red wine, salt & pepper and the bay leaves. Cover the pan with a lid or some tin foil so it’s sealed and place in the oven to slow-cook for 2 hours 30 mins.
Boil the potatoes: In salted water for 15-18 mins, until fork tender.
Make the mash: Drain the potatoes, then add the milk, crème fraiche, milk, butter, truffle dust (if using) and grate in about 150g of the Tomme de Chevre. Mash until smooth. Add into a piping bag if you want to pipe on top of the pie, otherwise, leave aside until the lamb is ready.
Shred the lamb shoulder: Once the lamb shoulders are tender and soft (you’ll know they’re ready if the bones fall out easily when you pull them), shred them with two forks until they have the texture of pulled pork.
Fry the aromatics: Add the grated carrot, grated celery, tomato paste, dried thyme, cinnamon, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce to a frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil and fry until soft, about 8 minutes.
Add the pulled lamb shoulder: to the aromatics mix, along with the stock that the lamb shoulders slow-cooked in. Stir until the stock is combined with the lamb. Transfer the lamb to a tray for baking.
Top the Shepherd’s Pie with the mash: Either via piping bag or dollop on top and spread with a fork or spatula. Grate the remaining 50g of the Tomme de Vache over the mash topping.
Bake the pie: For around 20 minutes, or until bubbling around the edges and golden on top.
Make the wild garlic sauce: Place the wild garlic leaves, the mint leaves, the apple cider vinegar, the salt and the olive oil into a food processor and blend until it has the texture of salsa verde.
Get ready to serve the Shepherd’s Pie! We think it’s best after left to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving.
Ingredients you'll need
