Hunters' Pie
- Stacie Garner
- Dec 15, 2018
- 2 min read
As a British girl, there is nothing more comforting than Shepherds' Pie during the winter season. Shepherds' Pie is a hearty blend of ground lamb, onions, carrots, celery, sweetcorn and peas in a deep brown gravy, topped with creamy mashed potatoes and cheese.
Hunters' Pie takes that traditional English classic dish and gives it an American twist - replacing the ground lamb meat, with ground venison. A hunters' winter dream meal !
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds ground venison
5 russet potatoes - peeled and diced roughly
1 Spanish / yellow onion - diced
2 carrots - peeled and diced
1 celery stalk - diced
6 oz. sweet peas (frozen or fresh)
4 oz. sweetcorn kernels
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon thyme (dried or fresh finely chopped)
2 tablespoons flour
6 oz. red wine (one glass) - Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup beef stock
2 tablespoons butter (half for gravy, and half for mashed potatoes)
1 cup grated / shredded cheddar cheese
Chives - chopped for garnish
Salt & pepper to taste
MEAT, VEGETABLES & GRAVY
Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Heat a large pot over medium heat. Saute onions, carrots and celery in olive oil until soft. Add the ground meat and season with salt, pepper, and thyme and cook until brown thoroughly. Add half of the butter (1 tablespoon), peas and sweetcorn. Sprinkle in the flour and stir through. Add tomato paste, red wine and Worcestershire sauce.
Continue to cook and stir regularly, letting the mixture liquids reduce before adding beef stock. Cook further until liquids have reduced to a thick gravy. Season to taste.
Remove pot from heat.
MASHED POTATOES
Heat a large pot of salted water over high heat. When water is at a rolling boil, add diced potatoes. Boil potatoes until soft and fork tender.
Drain potatoes in colander. Place potatoes in a bowl with remaining butter, and season to taste. Mash potatoes with hand masher until smooth and all lumps are removed.
HUNTERS' PIE
Grease an oven-proof dish with butter and add the sauce and meat. Spoon or pipe the mashed potatoes on top of the meat, vegetables and gravy. Sprinkle with cheese on top of potatoes.
Bake until potatoes are browned and cheese is melted on top (approx. 20 minutes). Note that the elements are all cooked through already, therefore baking is only to get a nice crust on top.
Additional Tips :
- To make a traditional Irish pie, you can replace the red wine with Guinness or heavy stout beer as an alternative
middleeastcoastchef
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