Amidst the joyous chaos of the holiday season, we know it can be a challenge to find recipes for family and guests that are both comforting and impressive, kid-friendly and palate-pleasing, classic and refined. Thanks to our writer and Annapolis Mom Duffy Perkins for researching and taste testing this upgrade to a holiday classic dish– Enjoy!
I’m a firm believer that not every classic recipe needs to be remade. But in the case of Shepherd’s Pie, well, a couple of tweaks might be welcome.
In this recipe, the standard, soggy ground beef is replaced by bottom round roast. This is a cut that doesn’t necessarily set you back too much money, but it does require some skill in cooking it so that you aren’t serving your dad’s shoe at the table. The quality of your herbs is important; the quality of your wine is not. The mashed potatoes, too, are sculpted into a bechamel-like consistency through a little elbow grease and some good cheese. This is the type of recipe that necessitates an entire day to really cook properly, which makes your house smell like an actual dream, but the actual chopping and prepping itself should take no more than 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
3-pounds Bottom Round Roast
3T olive oil
Fresh Herbs (Rosemary, Oregano, Thyme)
16 ounces Red Wine
3 carrots, chopped small
3 stalks of celery, chopped small
1 onion, chopped small
8 ounces mushrooms, quartered
Mashed Potatoes:
8 Yukon Gold potatoes
4T butter
4 ounces melting cheese (Gruyere, Raclette, Monterrey Jack, and even Cheddar are all excellent)
Bring your roast to room temperature and season well with salt and pepper. Put a heavy bottomed pan or dutch oven over medium heat and add olive oil. Add meat and brown on all sides, roughly 6 minutes per side.
Add the red wine and cover the pot, reducing heat to low. Cook the roast for roughly two to three hours. Depending on the cut of meat, you may still have a tough roast. This is fine – the meat will tenderize the longer it cooks, as long as it’s on very low. Remove the meat from the pan and bring the heat up to high. Allow the wine to reduce to about half, and then add the herbs and vegetables (minus the potatoes) and cook for 10 minutes.
At this point, add your herbs to the pot. Once your meat has rested, cut it into bite-sized pieces and add it back to the pot. Turn your stove down to medium and let this cook for roughly two hours.
At this point, begin to boil your potatoes. Once they’re fork tender, you have two options: either rice them using a food mill, or press the potatoes through a fine mesh sieve. This process is laborious but it creates a much finer texture for your mash. Using a hand mixer or (preferred) an immersion blender, whip the potatoes while adding cream and salt. Add in the butter and cheese and stir until combined.
Your mashed potatoes should resemble a bechamel sauce consistency, or roughly the same texture as an expensive nighttime moisturizer. Put the meat and vegetables into a baking pan and then dollop the mashed potatoes over top. Place this under the broiler until your mashed potatoes are golden, with the faintest crust.
Serve and enjoy.
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