Mushroom shepherd’s pie
A rich, savory mushroom and vegetable filling under a thick blanket of cheddar mashed potatoes, baked until the peaks turn golden.
- 90 min total
- 45 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $2.83 a serving
- 410 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 5 russet potatoes, about 2½ lb
- 3 tbsp butter
- ½ cup milk
- 1½ lb baby bella mushrooms, chopped
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1½ cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
From your pantry
- 2¼ tsp salt, divided
- ¾ tsp black pepper, divided
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried rosemary
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
Each serving has about 410 calories, 15 g protein, 53 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $2.83 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No russet potatoes? Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No baby bella mushrooms? White mushrooms work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No frozen peas? Frozen mixed vegetables work.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the potatoes, cut into 2-inch chunks and in a large pot of water with 1 teaspoon salt until very tender, 15 to 18 minutes.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
High heatTimer: 16 min
and mash them with the butter, milk, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper until smooth.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large oven-safe over medium-high heat. Cook the mushrooms until their liquid cooks off and they , 10 to 12 minutes.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 11 min
Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook until soft, 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, thyme, rosemary and flour for 1 minute.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Stir in the broth, soy sauce, the rest of the salt and pepper and until thick, 5 minutes.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the peas.
Medium heat
the oven to 400°F.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Spoon the potatoes over the filling, spread them to the edges and rough up the top with a fork. Sprinkle with the cheddar.
Dolly’s tip: The little peaks from the fork are what turn crispy and golden.until bubbling at the edges and on top, 20 to 25 minutes. Let it 10 minutes before serving.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 22 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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