Okay, we’re not actually going to make shepherd’s pie today. I’m in lockdown and running out of veggies so I’m gonna make do with what I’ve got. However, we can still focus on how to do the potato part.

Ingredients

Method

Step 1: Preheat the oven

Set your oven to 180°C (356°F for that one weird country that doesn’t use proper units). Leave it on while you prepare the rest.

Step 2: Prepare the base layer

Usually shepherd’s pie is made with minced lamb, usually fried with onions, carrots, and so on. I’m in lockdown and I don’t have all that, so I’m gonna use pork, onions, carrot, weird Chinese turnip, and some gravy I made. You can make whatever you want as long as it’s savoury and uses some kind of meat and veggies.

Step 3: Mash!

I’m not gonna repeat myself – just check out the previous recipe to make mashed potatoes.

Step 4: Prepare the pie

For this part take an oven dish and pour in the base layer.

Next, spread the mash over the top. Try to spread it evenly and cover the whole thing, but don’t worry about getting it perfect just yet.

Then, take a fork and run it along the mash to make it ribbed. This makes the potato nice and crispy when it comes out of the oven.

Next put scatter some flakes of butter around the top of the mash. Then sprinkle a generous amount of paprika all over it.

Step 5: Bake it!

Now just stick it in the preheated oven! It should take around 25-30 minutes to cook. You can tell it’s done when the top of the potato has brown crispy edges.

Step 6: Eat!

That’s all you need! You don’t need to serve it with anything – it’s a meal on its own. That doesn’t mean you can’t eat anything else with it, as long as it isn’t durian.

If you don’t eat it all in one go, you can reheat it later. Just preheat the oven to 180°C again, and leave it in there for around 15 minutes.