Jono & Jules do food & wine

We made this from left-over slow roast lamb that we’d cooked for Sunday lunch. If you haven’t made Shepherd’s pie with cooked roast lamb we highly recommend it. Really comforting and delicious – there’s no better way to treat your leftovers!

Wine Suggestion: we opened a Domaine de Boède La Pavillon which is made by Chateau de la Negly close to Narbonne in the Languedoc. This wine may be just an IGP (the old Vin de Pays) but you can tell that just as much care has gone into this as the Chateau’s AC wines.  Juicy raspberry and cassis aromas with a touch of black pepper and cinnamon. A  round and generous palate is followed with silky tannins and hints of liquorice. Aim for a juicier style of wine with a medium body.

Shepherd’s Pie – serves 4 to 6

• 25g butter
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 500g cooked lamb, cut into roughly 1 cm pieces
• 25g plain flour
• 500ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 700g mashed potato (made with some milk and butter)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat until foaming, then add the onions and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes or until soft but not browned.

Stir in the flour and cook for a minute, then add the stock and tomato purée, bring to the boil and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the lamb and the chopped chives.

Pour the lamb mixture into an ovenproof dish and cover with the mashed potato.

Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling. Serve with some veg on the side.

(Original recipe from Rachel’s Everyday Kitchen, by Rachel Allen, HarperCollins, 2013.)