How to cook a lamb shepherd’s pie

Method

1. Heat a large pan (with lid) on a medium heat and add the olive oil – the key is not to add too much oil to this dish. Add the onions and garlic and gently fry until translucent (if the pan begins to dry add a little water).
2. Add the chopped carrots and celery cook for 5 minutes or until they soften. Turn up the heat a notch and add the free range lamb mince, and cook until brown, you will see all the juices running out of the lamb.
3. Now add the herbs, tomato paste and stir in to the mixture covering it all, cooking for 2-3 minutes, it should turn a little sticky.
4. Add the wine and stock to the pan (we begin with 300ml stock and reserve the rest). Place the lid on the pan, turn down the heat to simmer for 45 minutes, checking to see if you need to add more stock from time to time.
5. While the base is cooking peel, chop and boil the potatoes until soft, strain and begin the break them up before getting stuck in with mashing. Add your large knob of butter, a pinch of salt and a big splash of milk, and mash away, adding more milk/butter to nearly reach your desired  texture of mash, then to add extra creaminess crack the egg in to the mash and it will beautifully glossy.
6. Heat the oven to 180c
7. When the base mixture is ready, add to a pie dish, top with the creamy mash and place in the heated oven forty minutes or until the top  is golden. Serve with lots of buttery greens.