Springtime shepherd's pie

Springtime shepherd's pie

Fresh tasting & very moreish, this just needs a green salad to go with it

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 50 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Ready in 1 hour 10 mins

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Boil the potatoes until tender (about 15 minutes), then drain thoroughly.
  2. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan and cook the mince, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until browned - unless the mince is very lean, you shouldn't need to add any oil. Add the leek, spring onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until beginning to soften. Stir in the courgette, crème fraîche and the lemon zest. Taste and season.
  3. Heat the milk and 3/4 of the butter in a pan, add the potatoes and mash until smooth. Stir in the herbs and season with a little salt. Put the lamb mixture into an ovenproof dish and pile the potato on top, spreading it out to cover the meat completely. Dot with the rest of the butter and bake for 20 minutes until golden on top.

Per serving

447 kcalories, protein 23.3g, carbohydrate 48.4g, fat 19.2 g, saturated fat 10.1g, fibre 5.4g, salt 0.37 g

Recipe from olive magazine, May 2005.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • 10 April 2008

    FOod rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 06 July 2008

    hstanton rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    really is YUMMY! not sure where all the previous ratings, including mine, have diappeared to! Have made this several times now....used cream when run out of creme freche and once used vanilla yoghurt! Much nicer alternative for a summertime shepherd's pie. Have frozen too. just a quickie! It really annoys me when something is labelled half fat and marketed as 'healthy'. A high fat diet is ALWAYS preferable to a high SUGAR diet. Half fat creme freche has lots more sugar content therefore not so good for you!

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  • 17 September 2008

    lena_lush commented on this recipe

    This dish is very filling, but you need to add a lot of seasoning. I added 2 beef stock cubes, worcester sauce & pepper to the beef mince. To the potatoes i added 4 parsnips & then mashed them all together before adding the herbs. I then added cheese to the top of the mash with some paprika sprinkled on top.

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  • 16 May 2009

    delsh21 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    The first time I made this I thought it was a bit dry so now I add 1/2 jar of good tomato and chilli sauce which makes it much more moist and tastier.

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  • 11 June 2009

    schizopear rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    i made this with beef mince because i don't really like lamb mince and omitted the creme fraiche as my boyfriend claims to be lactose intolerant (he isn't!), adding a bit of beef stock to prevent it becoming too dry. i didn't have any milk for the potatoes on top either but i think that mash needs to be a bit 'sturdier' for shepherd's (or cottage!) pie anyway. so basically i just made a cottage pie with some extra veggies and a herby mash... but it was bloomin' lovely :)

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  • 07 October 2009

    Lynn commented on this recipe

    A great recipe - went down really well when we had friends over for a casual dinner. I added a good glug of red wine to the mince and let it sear through at the end of cooking as it was a bit dry and it gave a good hearty pep to the dish making it smel divine when the potato top was breached for the first time. All we needed was lasings of green salad and everyone was happy.

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  • 08 August 2010

    Adele rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I found this a bit bland, as previous reviewer lena_lush did. Also, veg wasn't very cooked, which was OK, but probably would have been better if they were done a bit more. Did enjoy it - it was tasy (and filling) but would add a fair amount more seasoning if I did it again.

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  • Binder photo Kay

    29 March 2011

    Kay rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was just delicious! I kept going back for more :-) I added a teaspoon of mild chilly while frying the mince and it really is the icing on the cake! I would recommend this recipe to anyone.

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  • 29 March 2011

    Rnten rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 03 May 2011

    Mary Chappell rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this yesterday when family were over, it was a lovely recipe easy when entertaining and went down v well, set husband onto the veg while I did the meat & potatoes. He added some Worcester sauce and Marmite to the meat.

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  • 23 May 2011

    damoncorey rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    At first I thought this recipe was a bit odd, no liquid just creme fraiche?! I was unsure how it would work as it does not really resemble the hearty values of a shepherds pie. Well its great I dont think there is any need to add extra ingredients as this dish is a much lighter version of the traditional version. You may want to up the quantity of creme fraiche and perhaps skim off excess fat when cooking out the lamb, as for the dish being dry - just make sure your mash is nice and moist and you will have no probs, serve with a bundle of warm British asparagus

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  • 14 June 2011

    Suzi rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I think next time I might add more seasoning... just to give it a little lift, but generally it was nice... and a success with the rest of the family!

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  • 24 June 2011

    lorenski rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    really yummy. Prefer full-fat creme fraiche and didn't find it dry at all although probably could have done with more seasoning. My toddler loved it too!

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  • 22 July 2011

    Natnee rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely yummy! My first ever review on here and it had to be for this. I don't think I will make a traditional shepherds pie again! I also added a little bit of rosemary into the mash, and only 1 leek which was plenty. My toddler will be having the leftovers tomorrow and I'm sure she will love it!

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  • 31 August 2011

    cowen84 rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    found this very bland and also way too much potato for my liking. i had frozen a portion, so when i came to make it up for dinner again i added some dijon mustard, more creme fraiche and some lemon juice, loads and loads of seasoning and did garlic mash to go on top, was an improvement but still wasnt a winner.

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  • 07 October 2011

    Victoria rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Great!!

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  • 19 January 2012

    Michelle rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Love this, i agree with other comments, needs more seasoning. Also mine ended up quite watery. Although, day after was much better. Other concern is the ratio of topping (potato) to the base. I would half the potato next time and also probably add a lot less butter (this includes a lot of butter!).

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  • 09 February 2012

    mick rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    What a fabulous recipe! Like some others, I used beef rather than lamb. Mince can be fatty so I used Sirloin instead. Not having any carrots or courgettes, I decided that tomatoes were a similar colour and consistency, on average. Although the parsley in my garden was frozen I did have a pot of basil and used some of that. Finally, I just love pasta so served that instead of the mash. What a wonderful Shepherd's Pie! Thank you.

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  • 19 May 2012

    Mona rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very nice!!! I seasoned with salt, pepper and one beef stock cube, crumbled; that was enough. For the lemon zest I used only one small lemon, it was perfect. I will make it again, my family liked it. Thank you for nice recipe.

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  • 14 June 2012

    Zosha36 commented on this recipe

    This was really tasty and we loved the lemon flavour zinging through. We made it with sweet potato mash (without the butter and milk), which complimented the flavours really well. Thanks to the other commenters, we added a dash of marmite and some stock, otherwise would have been too dry. Definitely one to make again though!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 50 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Ready in 1 hour 10 mins

Ingredients

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Per serving

447 kcalories, protein 23.3g, carbohydrate 48.4g, fat 19.2 g, saturated fat 10.1g, fibre 5.4g, salt 0.37 g

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