Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients

• 600g lamb mince
• 300ml lamb or beef stock
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 150g frozen peas
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 900g potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 120ml milk, warmed
• 50g butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil (to brush)
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Fresh chives, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Boil the potatoes in well-salted water for 15–18 minutes until a knife slides through without resistance — undercooked potatoes mash lumpy, no matter how hard you work them.
2. While the potatoes cook, heat a glug of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and fry gently for 8–10 minutes until soft and starting to catch gold at the edges — that colour is flavour. Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic burn — it turns the whole filling bitter.
3. Push the vegetables to the side, turn the heat up, and add the lamb mince in two batches. All at once and the pan crowds, water comes out, and you've boiled the meat instead of browning it. Break up the lumps with a wooden spoon and leave each batch alone for a minute at a time so it builds proper brown crust, about 5 minutes per batch. Season the mince generously with salt and pepper as it browns.
4. Stir in the tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce and let them cook into the mince for a minute — the purée should darken from red to brick. Add the rinsed lentils and pour in the hot stock; the stock breaks down the tomato purée and gives the lentils something to swell into. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 18–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender and the sauce clings to the back of the spoon rather than puddling around it.
5. Stir through the peas, then taste and season again. Adjust now — at the end, not at the table.
6. Drain the potatoes and return them to the warm pan over a low heat for a minute to steam off — dry mash crisps, wet mash steams. Mash with the butter and warmed milk until smooth and fluffy.
7. Spoon the filling into a shallow ovenproof dish. Spread the mash over the top and drag a fork across to raise peaks — those peaks are what crisp into golden tips. Brush with the olive oil and bake for 25–30 minutes, until the topping is deeply golden and the filling is bubbling at the edges.
8. Rest the pie for 5 minutes, then serve straight from the dish with a crack of black pepper, a generous scatter of chopped chives over the peaks, and a heap of buttered greens alongside.