Shepherd's pie is something I'd always order from one of the restaurants I'd regularly visit near our office. It's an all-in-one dish: carbs from the mashed potatoes, protein from the meat, and fiber from the veggies.
The dish looks pretty easy to make - like baked macaroni in individual ramekins. Searched through the sites I regularly visit and was glad to find this easy recipe.
The recipe is from Home Cooking Rocks, another site that is mostly devoted to Filipino dishes. I love that the author includes her recipes for some non-Filipino dishes as well. This one's a perfect example. From what I have tried so far, shepherd's pie is usually made out of beef. But this one's made of chicken breast fillets - just right for the health-conscious :-)
I think the hardest part in making this dish is preparing the mashed potatoes - scrubbing them, then mashing them is just painful. I say this because I don't have a nifty gadget to do this easily for me. Yes, I mashed them potatoes with my humble fork. I like my mashed potatoes with skin, so this saved me the pain of removing the skin from the hot potatoes before mashing them.
Next, the chicken dish - really good! The dish is very simple but the taste is just good. I didn't follow the recipe to the dot - I used chicken breast fillets and some Hungarian sausages because I don't have smoked ham. This combination worked well. When I started cooking this I thought the sauce would be very thick because the recipe calls for cream. So I had my milk ready. But I didn't use the milk at all. The taste and consistency of the sauce was just right.
Let's cook!
Chicken Shepherd's Pie
Recipe from Home Cooking Rocks
Make the mashed potatoes
- 3/4 kilo potatoes or 5 pieces of medium-big potatoes
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3/4 cup or more of milk
- salt and pepper
- few tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
Wash and scrub the potatoes clean especially if you're keeping the skin. Pierce with a fork all over and drop in boiling water. Boil for 30 minutes or until you can insert a fork easily into the potato.
When the potatoes are done, put them in a bowl and mash them.
Add the butter.
Season with salt and pepper.
Gradually add the milk. Do not pour the milk all at once. You'd want to put a small amount at a time till you get the consistency you want.
Add the parmesan.
Set aside.
Prepare the chicken filling
- 1/4 kilo chicken breast fillets
- 3 pieces hungarian sausage
- 1 large onion
- 1 small pack frozen vegetables (corn and carrots)
- 1 small can sliced button mushrooms
- 1 cup of cream
- salt and pepper
Thaw your frozen vegetables.
Chop the onions.
Cut the chicken breast fillet into cubes. Season with salt and pepper.
Slice the sausage about a quarter inch thick.
Melt butter in a pan. Cook the chicken until lightly browned.
Add the hungarian sausage and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Add the chopped onion.
Add the vegetables.
Pour the cream and season with salt and pepper.
Assemble the pie
Place the chicken filling in an 8" baking dish.
Spread the mashed potatoes on top of the chicken.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 20-30 minutes. The pie is done when the top is lightly browned.
Nice and brown and dripping at the sides :-)
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