Shepherds Pie was always a treat growing up because my mom only made it by grinding the leftover meat from a leg of lamb meal. I later learned that it could be made with ground lamb or other meat and there was no need to wait for leftovers! This recipe is adapted from my family recipe and works great with venison.

Hunters’ Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground venison meat
• 1 small onion or large shallot, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced into pea size pieces
• ½ cup peas (frozen or fresh)
• 1-pint stewed tomatoes or 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. dried thyme or Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 to 3 cups of  mashed potatoes*.

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a 2qt or slightly larger braising pan or Dutch oven, brown the venison meat (you can add a few teaspoons of olive oil if the meat is sticking to pan) over medium high heat. Pour the browned meat into a strainer over the sink to drain off any liquid or fat.
• Add a dash of olive oil to the empty pan and add the onion, carrot, and peas, return to heat, and cook stirring occasionally until the veggies are lightly cooked, about 3-5 minutes.
• Stir the browned venison back in with the onion, carrot, and peas, and add a dash of salt, pepper, and thyme or Italian seasoning. Cook for another minute or two. Taste, and adjust salt and pepper to your liking.
• Remove the pan from the heat. Even out the mixture to make a base layer and pour the tomatoes over the meat mixture. Add a layer of seasoned mashed potatoes on top of the tomatoes.
• Place the pan in the oven and cook for about 1/2 an hour until the potatoes are slightly browned on top.
• Remove from oven and let it rest for about 5 minutes before scooping out servings.  Serves about 4.

*for my mashed potatoes, I used 3 white potatoes quartered and boiled until soft, 2 Tbsp. of butter, ¼ cup light cream or whole milk, salt & pepper to taste and mashed it all together, which made ~3 cups. I started to boil the potatoes when I was browning the meat.

Diced shallot, onion, and carrot

Base layer of browned venison with onion, carrots, and peas

Tomato layer added on top of the meat mixture

Hunters’ Pie just out of the oven with mashed potato layer lightly browned.