For a few years, we tried having a "shepherd's supper" on Christmas Eve -- lamb stew, pitas, hummus, dolmas, olives, dates, etc. Last year, when I invited Father Scott to join us, he replied via e-mail that he would love to come have "shepherd's pie", so that's what we made. Basically, it was the same lamb stew we had made the year before, but with mashed potatoes on top. This year, it came out especially well, and we decided it's now our Christmas Eve go-to dish; I thought I better write down what we did.
Christmas Eve Shepherd's Pie
1 2-3 pound leg of lamb roast (we can get this at Aldi)
olive oil
4 cups of beef stock or broth
8 carrots, cleaned and sliced into rounds
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1-2 cups frozen peas
4 t. cornstarch, dissolved in water
5-6 potatoes, mashed (a little thinner than you would make for a meal)
Cut lamb into smallish cubes and brown in 2 T. olive oil in a dutch oven or other large pot. When brown, add beef stock and simmer for about an hour. Add carrots, onion, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper; simmer for another 30-40 minutes. Add peas, simmer another 5 minutes or so, then bring back up to a boil and stir in cornstarch mixture until it thickens. Put all into a sprayed baking dish, top with mashed potatoes and put under the broiler for a few minutes until the potatoes get a little brown on top.
Serve this with some nice bread and a greekish salad with feta and olives.
Peace
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