When there’s a chill in the air turn to this hearty comfort food. Unlike traditional Shepherd pie that uses ground beef and sometimes a stout ale, this recipe uses hearty chunks of beef, along with a variety of vegetables, simmered in a rich red wine sauce.
Inactive time: Overnight chilling Prep time: 25 mins Cook time: 3 hours Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 to 3 lb stewing beef
- Fresh thyme, large sprig
- 3 whole garlic cloves, smashed
- 3 fresh bay leaves
- 3 cups good quality red wine
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tbsp vegetable or olive oil, (or more as necessary for browning meat)
- 4 sticks celery, chopped
- 1 large onion, cut into chunks
- 6 large carrots, cut into chunks
- 7 oz Baby Bella mushrooms, each cut in half
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Pinch brown sugar
- 3 tbsp white flour
- 1 Tbsp tomato purée
- 2 beef stock cubes
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
For the topping:
- 3-4 cups mashed potato
Directions
- Place the beef in a bowl with red wine, garlic, freshly ground pepper, thyme sprig, and bay leaves. Place in the refrigerator and marinate overnight.
- The next day remove meat from the marinade with a slotted spoon and place on a plate. Remove thyme sprig, bay leaf and garlic cloves. Reserve marinade.
- Heat oven to 300°F.
- Combine 2 cups flour with 1 tablespoon salt, and one tablespoon pepper. Working in batches, dredge the beef in the flour mixture. Shake off any excess flour.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pot brown the meat over medium heat, about 6 minutes. Turn meat frequently to brown evenly. Remove meat and repeat process for each batch. Add more oil for each batch if necessary. When all the meat is done add the vegetables to the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Sprinkle sugar over the vegetables, then sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the flour over vegetables and stir together. Cook for a few minutes until vegetables start to brown, stir in the tomato purée and then add the reserved wine marinade and Worcestershire sauce. Deglaze by using a spoon to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add browned beef along with any juices, that may have accumulated in the plate. Crumble in the beef stock cubes. Add just enough boiling water to cover the meat and vegetables (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups). Season with salt and pepper and bring everything to the boil, stirring well. Pour mixture into a Dutch oven (or other oven-proof dish), cover and place in the oven for 2 1/2 hrs or until the meat is tender.
- To make the pie: Heat oven to 400°F. Pour meat and vegetable mixture into a casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with grated Asiago Cheese, if desired. (Note: you can either spread the potato mixture over the filling or pipe it on. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
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