Slow Cooker Fancy Shepherd’s Pie
This hands-off recipe for shepherd's pie uses chunks of lamb cooked in the slow cooker until full of flavour and meltingly soft to create a luxurious sauce.
Introduction
This is my grown-up version of shepherds’ pie, using juicy chunks of lamb rather than mince. After cooking the lamb in the slow cooker, I like to serve them in individual dishes so everyone gets their own mini pie. If you’re feeling extra fancy, pipe the mash on top of the lamb to make it really pretty, but spooning the mash on works well too. Just make sure the mash is nice and smooth, with no lumps.
Ingredients
| 800g shoulder of | lamb, diced |
| 1½ tbsp | plain flour |
| ½ tbsp | olive oil |
| 1 | onion, chopped |
| 2 stalks | celery, chopped |
| 2 | carrots, peeled and diced |
| 3 tbsp | tomato purée |
| 2 tbsp | tomato ketchup |
| 2 tbsp | Worcestershire sauce |
| 4 sprigs | rosemary, leaves picked |
| 3 sprigs | thyme, leaves picked |
| 100ml | hot lamb or vegetable stock |
| 50ml | red wine (or replace with the same amount of stock or water) |
| 1 x 800g pack | mashed potato (shop-bought, or you can use homemade) |
| salt and freshly ground black pepper |
Essential kit
You will need: a slow cooker.
Method
Cooking time: 4 hours 20 minutes on high; 8 hours 20 minutes on low. Preparation time: 10 minutes.
Season the lamb with salt and pepper, then toss the meat in the flour until each piece is evenly coated.
Optional – If it has one, set the slow cooker to ‘fry’ mode (or use a frying pan on the hob for this stage). Add the olive oil to the pot of the slow cooker or frying pan, then toss in the lamb and cook for 7–8 minutes or until lightly browned. (You can skip this stage, but searing the lamb does lock in the flavour.) Transfer the lamb to a bowl and set aside.
Put the onion, celery and carrots in the pot of the slow cooker and cook on high for 7–8 minutes, or until softened.
Add the lamb to the pot, season with salt and pepper. Add the tomato purée, tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and herbs. Pour in the stock and red wine (if using). Cover the pot with the lid.
Set the slow cooker to ‘cook’ mode, then turn it either to high and cook for 4 hours or to low and cook for 7–8 hours.
Once cooked, spoon the lamb mixture into individual heatproof containers and top with the mash – you can either spoon or pipe the mash on. Spritz the mash tops with spray oil and then pop the pies under a hot grill or into the air fryer to brown the mash.
Cook’s Tip: Instead of regular mashed potato, you can use sweet potato mash to top the pie. Or you could scatter a little grated Cheddar over the mashed potato topping and melt it under the grill or in the air fryer.
Calories: 506 kcals per serving (with shop-bought mash).
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