Shepherd's Pie

I love a good shepherd's pie.  Recommended wine pairing: a spicy Zinfandel or blend such as Orin Swift's The Prisoner.

Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients

• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1 lb ground beef
• 15 red pearl onions peeled and halved
• 1 1/2 cups of baby carrots cut into about 1 centimeter wide discs 
• 1 cup of frozen peas (thawed)
• 3 cloves of garlic (peeled and rough chopped)
• 4 large russet potatoes (peeled and cut into half inch thick slices)
• 3 - 4 turnips (peeled and cut into quarter inch thick slices)
• stick of unsalted butter
• 1+ cup(s) milk
• 1 cup of dry Sherry
• 2 cups of beef stock
• 2 tablespoons fresh or dry thyme
• 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
• 1 small bunch of fresh flat-leaf italian parsley (leaves picked off stems and rough chopped to make about 1/2 cup worth)
• 1 heaping tablespoon of flour

Method
Prepare meat mixture:  Heat large skillet over medium high heat.  Add a few tablespoons of olive oil once the skillet is hot. Add pearl onions and saute for 2 minutes.  Add lamb and beef and begin to brown meat. Add cut carrots to skillet and continue to saute.  Once meat is mostly brown, drain and discard excess grease.  Add garlic, thyme, a pinch of gray sea salt and some fresh ground pepper and continue to saute for 1 minute.  Add dry sherry and worcestershire sauce and cook over medium high heat to cook out the alcohol and reduce the sherry.  After the sherry has been reduced to a very small amount, using a large wooden spoon, push the mixture to the sides of the skillet to make a circle opening in the middle of the skillet (where nothing but the small amount of liquid is on top of the skillet surface in the center).  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the circle.  Once the butter is melted, add the flour and stir while the mixture cooks into a roux.  After about a minute when the roux is well mixed and cooking, stir in the beef stock incorporating the meat mixture.  As the beef stock comes to a small boil, the roux will cause it to thicken.  After a minute of a slight boil and thickening, turn off the heat and mix in the peas and parsley.

Prepare mashed topping:  Place potato and turnip slices into large boiling pot and fill with cold water until root vegetables are completely submerged.  Cover the pot and put on high heat to bring it to a boil. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes until you can easily pass a spoon through one of the vegetables.  Drain the vegetables and return to the pot with 3 tablespoons of butter and a small handful of gray sea salt.  Add 1 cup of milk and use electric blender to mash/whip potatoes well.  Add more milk if necessary to obtain desired texture.

Final assembly and bake:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).  In pyrex baking dish, pour meat mixture and spread evenly across the dish.  Using a large spoon, cover the meat mixture with a layer of the mashed root vegetables.  Using the back of the spoon, create little dips in the mashed topping to create peaks and valleys in the mash.  Place the dish in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, turn on the oven broiler and move the dish to the top rack under the broiler.  Broil for about 4 - 5 minutes until you achieve some color on the mash topping (the peaks should have slight burns).  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.