Mini Shepherd's Pies

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 small brown onions (for australians) or 1 small yellow onion, finely minced (for americans)
• 2 -4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 leek, thoroughly washed, finely chopped, use only the and light green section, the coarse green sect (see notes below)
• 1 -2 cup mushroom, finely sliced
• 800 g ground lamb or 25 1/2 ounces ground lamb
• 1/4 cup tomato paste (see note above)
• 400 g tomatoes, diced (just under 13oz)
• 1 -2 teaspoon lemon juice (optional ( if using drain the equivalent from the canned tomates)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (optional)
• sea salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 5 sheets shortcrust pastry
• 60 g unsalted butter, melted (2oz)
• fresh chives, finely chopped, to garnish
• 470 -500 g leftover mashed potatoes (15oz-16oz)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
• sea salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Recipe

• 1 preparing the pie filling: heat a large non-stick pan; add the onion, garlic, leek, mushrooms and minced lamb/ground lamb and cook until the lamb is browned; drain any excess juices from the pan; stir in the tomato paste (or dried australian bush tomatoes) diced tomatoes lemon juice and pine nuts, if using; season with pepper and salt; bring to the boil; boil, uncovered, for 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened; transfer to a large bowl; cover and refrigerate until cold.
• 2 preparing and filling the pastry cases: using an 8cm-wide/3 inch cutter cut out 9 rounds from each pastry sheet - 45 rounds in all; place the rounds on a flat surface and flatten slightten slighten slighly with a rolling pin; place the rounds about 3cm /11/4 inches apart, on oven trays lined with baking paper; spoon 1 tablespoon of the lamb mixture in the centre of each round, leaving a 1cm/1/2 inch pastry edge; fold up the edges of the pastry, overlapping the folds tightly to secure the filling.
• 3 preheat the oven to 200°c/400°f/6 gas mark.
• 4 making and adding the potato topping: combine all the ingredients in a large bowl; spoon the potato topping into a large piping bag fitted with a 1 cm/1/2 inch fluted nozzle; pipe small rosettes on top of each pastry round to partially cover the mince filling; drizzle the potato and pastry with the melted butter.
• 5 cooking the mini shepherd pies: cook the mini shepherd pies in a hot oven (200°c/400°f/6 gas mark) for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.
• 6 serving the mini shepherd pies: garnish the pies with fresh chives and serve hot.
• 7 notes: if you have any filling left over, save it for making a toasted sandwich. if you have made these shepherd's pies ahead, reheat them in a hot oven for 15 minutes before serving them. the dicarded coarse leaves from the leek and any excess tomato juice can be saved for making vegetable stock.