Broke-Ass Recipes: Shepherd’s Pie

St. Patrick’s Day falls on March 17, and shepherd’s pie has long been associated therewith. It’s also a great comfort food for rainy days.

Although there is a common strict notion that shepherd’s pie is a dish of ground lamb stewed with peas, carrots and corn and topped with mashed potatoes and cottage pie is the same thing except with beef substituted for lamb, the two terms are interchangeable. 

The dish was first described as “Cottage-Pye” in the 1791 book Diary of a Country Parson by Reverend James Woodforde of Norfolk, England, but in fact, the first known recipe to use the name shepherd’s pie, published in the 1849 edition of a Scottish cookbook called The Practice of Cookery and Pastry, recommends that any meat be used. 

More recently, shepherd’s pie has maintained significance in popular culture on account of the fact that it is a favorite dish of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who will not play a show without eating some first.

In this case, I chose to use both lamb and beef. 

I start off by putting the meat in a large saucepan and turning on the heat. While the pan warms up, I sprinkle generous amounts of Italian seasoning and Montreal steak seasoning all over the beef and lamb as I blend them together. As the meat begins to brown, I drizzle Worcestershire sauce all over it. 

As soon as the meat has fully browned, I toss in a 16-ounce frozen package of peas and diced carrots along with a can of whole kernel corn and I stir until the mixture is consistent. While I have recommended using canned veggies in previous recipes, using frozen stuff cuts down the sodium content.

Next, I add about three or four ounces of V8 juice and pour in one 11.2-ounce bottle of Guinness. I then get three packets of brown gravy mix, stir that in, lower the heat, put three or four bay leaves into the pan and let them steep for about ten minutes.

After I carefully remove the bay leaves, I evenly and gently add a couple handfuls of rolled oats as a thickener and thoroughly stir that in. Once that’s done, I can let the pan simmer low and slow for at least an hour. Once the diced carrots are nice and tender to the bite, the mince will be ready to top with mashed potatoes.

If you are using two pounds each of meat and vegetables, use a ratio of 12 ounces of instant potatoes to 3 pints of boiling water. Since the dehydrated milk and butter will be ground in with the taters, the mash will be ready in no time flat.

Once the mashed potatoes have reached their desired texture and consistency, take a rubber spatula and spread them upon the stewed mince. If you like, sprinkle some shredded sharp cheddar cheese on top.

Let’s tally the cost. 

Theoretically, the advice from the 1849 recipe offers an unwritten suggestion that a vegetarian cook might resourcefully find a suitable meat substitute, and why the hell not? Isn’t peasant food supposed to be accessible for everyone?

As has been the case with the recipes for egg drop soup and stovetop pizza, the vegetarian option proves to be cheapest, as three packages of your preferred veggie burgers at about four bucks each will just about yield the two pounds of protein at the core of this dish. We’re talking about six bucks per pound here, compared to $7.50 per pound for extra lean ground beef, $11.50 per pound for ground lamb or $15 per pound for venison.

Whether you use gravy mix with mushroom stock or beef stock, each packet will cost you about a buck. If you can find the low-sodium option, by all means, choose it. The Worcestershire sauce from Target or Safeway costs about four bucks either way, but if you were to use their brands of soy sauce for a vegetarian option, expect to spend roughly $2.50.

Safeway also sells an excellent own-brand Italian seasoning containing marjoram, rosemary, thyme, savory, sage, oregano and basil for four dollars. I also very strongly recommend Montreal steak seasoning, which has ingredients in common with Old Bay but has salt, black pepper, garlic and onion more forward in the mix, and that can be got for two dollars a jar. For bay leaves, it’s four bucks at Target.

At Safeway, they have large packets of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes for four bucks and smaller ones for two – get one of each to make sure you have enough; that’s six bucks. For a pound of frozen peas and diced carrots, it’s three dollars, a canister of rolled oats is $3.50 and canned corn from Trader Joe’s still is only a buck. Trader Joe’s also has sharp cheddar for four bucks a packet.

Fred’s Liquor and Deli on 6th Street in San Francisco has 12-ounce cans of V8 for $1.50 and single 11.2-ounce bottles of Guinness for $2.75. While the V8 is covered under EBT, the Guinness is not. Again, I recommend paying cash because they tack on a buck if you flash the plastic.

It appears that budget-wise, there are two possible extremes. If a person chose the vegetarian recipe the total cost for the project would come to approximately $50, but add three or four bucks if you wanted to get some baby bella mushrooms, chop them up and add them to the veggie burger hash. On the other hand, if you had a hankering for deer meat, available at Grocery Outlet, you’d spend approximately $70. Of course, this particular recipe could easily yield a dozen portions with each and every hearty bite being a meal in and of itself. If you live alone, you’re liable to have enough to eat for about two days. With that considered, the price per portion for the vegetarian option ranges from about $4.25 to $4.50, whereas if you wanted to cook with venison, the price per portion is about $6. Either way, it’s cheaper than the pub.

Naturally, it’ll taste even better the next day, too.