Shepherd's Pie: Beef Ragù with Mashed Potato [Recipe]

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Today’s recipe is shepherd’s pie, a signature dish of British home cooking. A rich beef ragù is topped with smooth mashed potato and baked in the oven until golden, so it’s an easy oven recipe. It contains no flour at all, so it tastes light, and it also makes a great home-party dish. Strictly speaking, shepherd’s pie is made with lamb, so a beef version is a cottage pie, but who cares? Ha. As long as it tastes good, that’s what matters. Let’s take a look at the recipe.

📋 At a Glance

Dish: Shepherd’s pie (cottage-pie style)
Type: British home-style oven dish of beef ragù covered with mashed potato
Servings: 2 to 3 (based on 450 g of ground beef)
Main ingredients: 450 g ground beef, frozen mixed vegetables, onion, red wine, 3 potatoes
Tools: a pot, a frying pan, an oven, an ovenproof dish (such as a gratin dish)
Time: 30 minutes prep + 50 minutes cooking (20 minutes in the pan + 30 minutes in the oven)
Difficulty: on the easy side — you simmer a meat sauce, cover it with mashed potato, and bake it
Key point: cook all the moisture out of the beef, reduce the red wine until the sauce is thick, then bake until golden

Shepherd’s Pie Ingredients

The ingredients for this recipe fall into three groups: the shepherd’s pie basics, the meat sauce, and the mashed potato. The list looks a little long. However, it’s mostly sauce, and everything is easy to find nearby, so nothing here is hard as long as you have an oven.

[Basic Ingredients for 2 to 3 Servings (Based on 450 g)]

450 g ground beef

About 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

1/2 onion

1/2 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

[Meat Sauce Seasonings]

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup red wine (about 200 ml)

1/2 tbsp liquid chicken stock

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 to 3 bay leaves

A little salt and pepper

[Basic Ingredients for the Mashed Potato]

3 medium potatoes

60 to 80 ml milk

1 tbsp butter

1 egg yolk

80 g grated Parmesan (or cheddar)

A little salt and pepper

[Recipe Summary]

Peel 3 potatoes, cut them into suitable pieces, and boil them in salted water for about 10 minutes.
While they boil, thaw the frozen vegetable mix and finely chop 1/2 onion.
Mash the boiled potatoes, and before they cool, mix in a pinch of salt and pepper, 1 tbsp butter, and 60 to 80 ml milk.
Then add 1 egg yolk and 80 g grated Parmesan and mix well.
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan, stir-fry 450 g ground beef over medium heat, and season with salt and pepper. Cook off all the moisture from the beef!
Once the moisture has cooked off, add the frozen vegetable mix, the onion, and 1/2 tbsp minced garlic and cook them together.
Pour in just enough of 1 cup red wine to barely cover, along with 1/2 tsp each of thyme and rosemary, 1/2 tbsp chicken stock, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, and 1 tbsp tomato paste. Add the bay leaves and simmer over low heat.
When the wine boils, remove the bay leaves. When the liquid has almost reduced, stir well so nothing burns and cook off the rest of the wine until the sauce is thick.
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Lightly grease an ovenproof dish such as a gratin dish with olive oil and press the meat firmly into it.
Cover the meat tightly with the mashed potato, then sprinkle Parmesan on top.
Bake in the oven preheated to 200°C for 20 to 30 minutes until golden.

🥔 Boil the potatoes in salted water so the seasoning soaks in. If the mash feels stiff, stir in 1 tbsp olive oil to loosen it.

🥩 Cook the beef until all the moisture is gone. If any liquid remains, the sauce turns watery and can seep up through the potato later.

🍷 Pour in just enough red wine to barely cover, and simmer over low heat until it has almost cooked off. The alcohol evaporates and only the deep flavor stays. Without wine, a little water with mirin (sweet cooking wine) works as a substitute.

🧀 Use the cheese twice, mixed into the mashed potato and sprinkled on top. It brings out the golden color and rich nuttiness once baked.

🌿 Herbs such as rosemary and thyme, along with bay leaves, take away the meaty smell. Bay leaves are best removed once they’ve given up their aroma.

⏱️ Prep time : 30 minutes

⏱️ Cooking time : 50 minutes (20 minutes in the pan + 30 minutes in the oven)

A Few Notes on the Ingredients

Strictly speaking, the original shepherd’s pie is made with lamb. However, ground lamb isn’t easy to find at a butcher’s shop. Beef also suits Korean tastes better than lamb, so this time we’ll make a cottage-pie style version.

Apart from the potatoes and onion, the other vegetables are much easier to handle with a frozen vegetable mix of the kind sold for fried rice. For the mashed potato, I used pre-grated Parmesan. I’ve seen it made with shredded cheddar in the US, but personally I find that makes the flavor a bit heavy.

An expensive wine would give a more upscale flavor, but any red wine that’s easy to find and suits your taste will do. Prepare 2 to 3 potatoes of about this size. I’m making 4 servings with 2 potatoes, so I prepared a bit extra. Keep that in mind when you follow the recipe.

Preparing the Ingredients

First, fill a suitable pot with water, add a little salt, and boil the potatoes. Salting the water seasons the potatoes. Potatoes in Korea tend to be quite starchy, so boiling them in water also helps draw out some of the starch.

While the potatoes boil, prepare the vegetables. Finely chop half an onion. I used a frozen vegetable mix, so there wasn’t much work to do.

Making the Mashed Potato

Poke the boiled potatoes with a chopstick or fork, and boil them until it slides in easily. Move the cooked potatoes to a suitable bowl and mash them well. A little salt and pepper is fine here too.

If the potatoes feel a bit stiff, add some olive oil, and add the tablespoon of butter before they cool. As I said earlier, I’m making a generous batch, so I added fairly large pieces.

Once the butter melts into the hot potatoes, pour in a little milk and mix well. By this point it should be thickening into something like a potato dough.

Finally, add the egg yolk and the Parmesan, and mix well. Knead it a little after adding the egg, and you get a mashed potato dough like this. That finishes the prep.

Cooking the Meat Sauce

Next comes the actual cooking, starting with the beef for the shepherd’s pie. Add plenty of olive oil to a suitable frying pan, add the 450 g of ground beef, and stir-fry over medium heat, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Stir the beef evenly so it doesn’t burn, and cook it with the aim of driving off the moisture. Getting rid of the moisture also keeps liquid from pooling when the pie bakes in the oven.

Once much of the moisture has cooked off, oil will start to come out. At that point, add the prepared vegetables and 1/2 tbsp minced garlic and stir once.

Then add 1/2 tsp each of thyme and rosemary, 1/2 tbsp chicken stock, and 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, and stir once more.

Simmering in Red Wine

Next, add 1 tbsp tomato paste, pour in just enough of the 1 cup of red wine to barely cover, add two or three bay leaves, and simmer over low heat. Once the liquid starts to boil properly, take out the bay leaves.

When the red wine boils and starts to reduce, stir evenly so it doesn’t burn. Again, cook off some of the liquid until the texture is a little thick. Even stirring over low heat so nothing burns, it comes together in a good 20 minutes.

Baking in the Oven

Preheat the oven to 200°C so the shepherd’s pie can bake. While it heats, lightly brush an ovenproof dish with olive oil and put the prepared beef in first.

Press the beef down firmly with a ladle or spatula. Then pack the mashed potato tightly over it, mounding it slightly.

Herb effect for removing the gamey smell of meat

Grating some Parmesan over the potato is nice too, or sprinkle on any cheese you prefer. Then put it in the 200°C oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden to your liking.

Finished Dish Gallery

Finished Shepherd’s Pie & Taste

Here is the finished shepherd’s pie. The top is baked golden and crisp, and the inside is a moist meat pie. Scoop up a spoonful together with the meat below, simmered deeply in red wine and herbs, and I’m sure you’ll taste the effort you put in.

Golden outside and moist inside, even one spoonful makes a lovely meal. It’s also a great dish for guests or special days. Tell people you made “shepherd’s pie” and they’re sure to be surprised. Ha.

It tastes best piping hot, fresh from the oven, and with a salad or bread on the side it becomes a proper home-party menu. Cut it into portions in front of your guests and lift them out from underneath, and you’ll hear gasps all around.

Even without guests, the family will love it too, and since it isn’t harsh, salty, or spicy, it works well as an everyday meal. Give it a try yourself. It’s a flavor you won’t regret.

For background on what shepherd’s pie is, including the lamb-versus-beef naming mentioned above, see Wikipedia’s shepherd’s pie article.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How long does shepherd’s pie take to make?

Prep takes 30 minutes and cooking takes 50, about 20 minutes in the pan and 30 in the oven. While the potatoes boil, thaw the frozen vegetable mix and chop the onion.

Q. Can I make shepherd’s pie with beef instead of lamb?

Yes, this version uses 450 g of ground beef. Shepherd’s pie is traditionally made with lamb, so a beef version is cottage-pie style, but ground lamb isn’t easy to find at a butcher’s shop and beef suits Korean tastes better.

Q. What temperature should I bake shepherd’s pie at?

Bake it in an oven preheated to 200°C for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden. Press the meat into the dish, cover it tightly with mashed potato, and sprinkle Parmesan on top first.

Q. What can I use if I don’t have red wine?

A little water with mirin works as a substitute. If you do use wine, pour in just enough to barely cover and simmer over low heat until it has almost cooked off, so the alcohol evaporates and only the deep flavor remains.

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Shepherd’s Pie: Beef Ragù with Mashed Potato [Recipe]