Shepherd’s Pie is right up there with macaroni and cheese and meatloaf on my personal comfort food scale, and it’s in the regular dinner rotation at our house from about now through the end of winter, so this little variation helps keep it fresh and new. If you’re not familiar with Shepherd’s Pie, it’s a rustic British dish made with a gravy and ground meat base, topped with mashed potatoes. It’s a humble, everyday meal meant to use up leftovers. In this case, the lamb or beef mixture is spooned right into some big upturned portobello caps, and then piled high with the creamy mashed potato. I infused the whole thing with lots of piney rosemary for a little something different. They turned out great, I hope you try them.
You’ll need to look for the biggest portobello mushrooms you can find for this dish, one per serving. Look for mushrooms with a bowl type shape rather than the flat ones. I removed the stems and lightly scooped out the fins…scales?…gills, that’s it, to make room for the meat mixture. If the mushrooms are huge I’d say pre-bake them for a short time to soften them since the baking time for these little pies isn’t very long.
These turned out really well, and there was nothing tricky about putting them together. They also reheated well for leftovers. The fresh rosemary was a wonderful touch, but you can use thyme, sage, or even just parsley if you want to. Don’t use dried herbs.
