Christmas recipe: Moroccan Style Shepard’s Pie
Hi all, I’m Mel, founder and Executive Chef at All Things Delicious.
Christmas is a month away! And with Christmas (or enter any other 🤪 stressful festive time) I always like to whip up crowd-pleasing dishes that are easy to prepare and will be hard to resist anyone at the dinner table. Here’s my take on the classic 🥧 shepherd’s pie, made with smokey spices and 🐑 lamb merguez sausages. You can substitute with regular lamb sausages or mince lamb if that’s easier to find but if you can get your hands on some lamb merguez, you’ll be in for a North African style treat!
And one of the best things about this recipe is that you can prepare and assemble it beforehand! You can make everything up a land freeze for up to 1 month or chill overnight! When you are ready to bake, all you gotta do is ensure the pie is at room temperature before placing it in the oven.
I love using the Whirlpool induction hob (Whirlpool ACM 808 Induction Hob) for its ease of use and sleek design - going perfectly with most kitchen designs including my homely studio kitchen with its pink tiles
Whirlpool ACM 808 Induction Hob
When baking the shepard’s pie, I used the 6th Sense Lasagne setting of the Whirlpool oven (Whirlpool W7 OM4 4S1 P BL Oven), since shepard’s pie is quite similar to it, consisting of layers of ingredients and cheese on top for broiling. There is NO PREHEATING involved. So whenever you’re ready, busy mummy! I know when there are kids running around and there are 1001 things to do, the luxury of making something without distractions is pretty slim. And the last thing you want is to realise that you have not pre-heated the oven! I know that could take a while! But not the Whirlpool oven!
Shepard’s Pie in a Whirlpool W7 OM4 4S1 P BL Oven
So, when the shepard’s pie is ready to go into the oven, that’s when I turn the oven on and it automatically sets to 46 minutes of cooking time including heating up (a mere 5 minutes), baking and final broiling for the cheese to melt and brown evenly 👌
There are many great things about the Whirlpool oven, but the 6th Sense Auto Cook 33 Recipes function is my favourite!
The juicy and flavorful lamb merguez mixed with the luscious and creamy mashed potatoes - just pure comfort and joy 🎄
I hope you’ll give this recipe a go! Merry Christmas!
Ingredients
Lamb merguez filling- 600g lamb merguez sausages
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 small stalk of celery
- 3 garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 tsp flour
- 350ml beef stock
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
Mashed potatoes
- 800g potatoes
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 garlic
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius. If you’re using the Whirlpool oven, no preheating is necessary.
- Gather celery, carrots, and onion and dice them into small pieces.
- Peel the potatoes and cut them in half. Soak the potatoes in a bowl of water.
- Remove the lamb sausages from their casing and break them into small pieces.
- Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a medium pot on medium-high heat. Once hot, add in the lamb merguez and break the meat apart using a ladle. Cook the meat until it is brown.
- Once the meat is done, remove it from the saucepan and set it aside,
- Using the same pot and reducing to medium heat, add in bay leaf and the diced vegetable. Cook till soft for about 5-7 minutes.
- Add in all the spices followed by 2 tsp of flour. Fry for about five minutes before adding the beef stock. Let it simmer for 5 minutes before adding the cooked lamb merguez.
- In the meantime, in a large saucepan boil some water and add in the potatoes. Let the potatoes cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
- While the potatoes are cooking, chop the parsley and add them to the lamb. Stir the filling until it is combined and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and let the lamb filling cool down before we start to assemble.
- In another saucepan, turn it to medium heat and melt butter. Add the chopped garlic to fry for about 5 minutes. Add in the potatoes and mash everything together with some chopped parsley.
- Using a large casserole dish, add the meat filling first to form the first layer. Ensure that it is evenly spread out. Scoop some of the mashed potatoes and layer it on top of the meat filling.
- Top the layer evenly with shredded cheddar cheese.
- Do remember to preheat the oven to 180° and bake it for 20-30 minutes, or if you have a Whirlpool oven that has a 6th Sense feature, select the Lasagna setting and let the oven do the cooking!
- Once the timer is up, change your oven setting to broil, and broil the shepard’s pie for a few minutes to let the cheese melt and brown evenly.
- To serve, scoop some of the shepard’s pie and place it on a plate. And enjoy!
