Recipe: Irish Shepherd’s Pie

Irish Shepherd’s Pie

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• mash :

  to reduce food, like potatoes or bananas, to a soft, pulpy state by beating or pressure.

• mince :

  to chop into teeny tiny pieces.

• sauté :

  to cook or brown food in a pan containing a small quantity of butter, oil, or other fat.

• thicken :

  to make a liquid mixture thicker by adding a thickening agent, like flour, cornstarch, or arrowroot powder, or by reducing the amount of liquid through boiling.

History of Shepherd’s Pie!

• Shepherd's pie is a meat pie topped with a crust of mashed potatoes and is the ultimate comfort food during cold winter months! The recipe can vary widely, but the defining ingredients are minced lamb or beef, gravy, onions, and mashed potatoes. Variations include adding other vegetables to the filling, such as peas, celery, or carrots, and sprinkling grated cheese on the mashed potato topping. 
• The dish, first called "cottage pie," was created to use leftovers since meat was expensive and not an everyday ingredient. Early versions had the mashed potatoes lining the bottoms and sides of the pie dish and on top. The name "shepherd's pie" was not seen until 1854. 
• Traditionally, cottage pie uses beef, while shepherd's pie uses lamb. There is some debate over whether shepherd's pie came from England or Ireland. Shepherd's pie with lamb (mutton) is thought to be Irish because mutton was cheaper than beef, which the poorer Irish typically could not afford. Cottage pie with beef was said to be a wealthier man's dish. The name shepherd's pie also could refer to the shepherds who looked after sheep, not cows.

Let's Learn About Ireland!

• Ireland, or the Republic of Ireland, is on the island of Ireland, called Éire in the Irish language. Its nickname is the Emerald Isle because it is very green and lush! 
• Ireland is a country in northwestern Europe, west of Great Britain, another island.
• The Republic of Ireland shares a border with Northern Ireland, which belongs to the United Kingdom. England, Scotland, Wales, which make up Great Britain, and Northern Ireland are all part of the UK.
• Irish is one of two official languages, with English being the second; however, English is more commonly spoken.
• Over 5 million people live in Ireland, and its total area is 32,595 square miles. Their currency is the euro. 
• The capital city, Dublin, and its environs are home to about 40 percent of the population of Ireland.
• Ireland has a long, complicated history, but people called the Celts made their home in the region about 700 years BCE and thrived for almost 2,000 years. Then, in the Middle Ages, Vikings arrived on ships and started settling the area, which led to conflict.
• The Rock of Cashel is one of several popular tourist sites in Ireland. It is a rocky, limestone outcropping. At the top, you will find medieval buildings, including a Gothic cathedral; a Romanesque chapel called Cormac's Chapel, named for a King of Munster; the Hall of the Vicars Choral; a 15th-century Tower House; an abbey; a round tower; and a high cross. Saint Patrick, of St. Patrick's Day fame, is associated with the Rock of Cashel.
• Ireland was part of the United Kingdom from 1801 until December 6, 1922, when it became a self-governing nation but still part of the British Empire, known as the Irish Free State. In 1937 it became a republic, which was made official in 1949. The British had been involved in Ireland since 1169, when the Anglo-Normans invaded, and English kings claimed sovereignty there.
• The Great Famine (or Irish Potato Famine) affected Ireland from 1845 to 1849. Potatoes were a staple food, and when the potato blight decimated the potato crop. As a result, many people got sick, died, or fled the country, and the population decreased by 30 percent.
• The green on the Irish flag represents Ireland's nationalists, orange represents the Protestant followers of William of Orange in Ireland, and white represents peace between the two groups.
• Some of the well-known symbols of Ireland include the shamrock, Celtic knot, Celtic cross, and the Celtic harp.
• Famous Irish authors and poets include Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, and George Bernard Shaw.
• Ireland is also famous for its Irish Celtic music and Irish dancing.
• Green is associated with St. Patrick's Day because it is the color of spring, Ireland, and the shamrock. Saint Patrick's Day on March 17 is a public religious and cultural holiday in Ireland. Many other countries around the world also celebrate it.
• St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in the United States for the first time in 1737 in Boston, Massachusetts. However, the city to hold the first official St. Patrick's Day parade was New York City, starting in 1766. Over 100 US cities now have Saint Patrick's Day parades. After all, on St. Patrick's day, "everybody is Irish!"
• Traditional Irish sports are Gaelic football and hurling, and they are also the most popular sports in the country. Association football (soccer) is third in popularity. Additional sports include rugby, cricket, and horseracing. At the Olympics, boxing is Ireland's most successful sport.
• Irish cuisine includes "boxty" (potato pancake), "colcannon" (mashed potatoes with cabbage), "coddle" (a dish of potatoes, sausage, thin bacon or "rashers," and onion), and Irish soda bread.  
• A "full Irish breakfast" consists of bacon, pork sausage, fried eggs, black pudding (blood sausage), baked beans, sliced tomato, sautéed mushrooms, soda bread or toast, and tea or coffee.

What's It Like to Be a Kid in Ireland?

• If kids in Ireland live in Irish-speaking communities, their schools teach classes in the Irish language. If they live in English-speaking areas, instruction is in the English language, unless kids attend an Irish-language school called a "gaelscoil," where classes are in Irish.
• Most Irish schools require students to wear uniforms.
• Irish children may play "rounders," a bat and ball game, "skipping" or jumping rope, marbles, and Irish "skittles," a bowling-like game where kids try to hit pins that are set up on the ground with pieces of wood called skittles.
• Kids may participate in some of the following sports: Gaelic football, handball, hurling or camogie, association football (soccer), rugby, boxing, and swimming.
• For breakfast, kids may eat the full, traditional Irish breakfast or have pancakes or scones. For a snack, they may eat potato chips or Irish flapjacks, which are granola bars made with oats. A favorite sweet treat is a fairy cake, a small cupcake with icing drizzled on top