I am a "more is more" kind of person when it comes to making potatoes. I've also been traveling. I'm calling it "freelance traveling chef" work on my resume. Although it's really just a fancy way of saying "unemployed chef who's burned out on the 'Yes Chef!' kitchen mentality." I've also bought a million pounds of potatoes at Costco. So, when it comes to quantity control? All I want is endless amounts of mashed potatoes. They're my favorite thing in the world. It's all that I would eat for holidays as a kid. I even made a seafood shepherd's pie a few years back. So, maybe that's on the horizon with my near-endless supply of potatoes. Currently, I'm defrosting my last bit of venison. So, I'm making a Venison Shepherd's Pie.
Meat & Potatoes/Cheese Substitutions for Venison Shepherd's Pie
I don't tend to eat a lot of meat. If you're familiar with my website, you'll know that I stick to predominantly vegan, vegetarian, and occasionally pescatarian dishes. As much as I like to normalize not eating quite so much meat, I'm not strictly meat-free. I have an entire article on What Does "Mostly Vegetarian" Mean & Will I Post Meat Recipes? I got this venison from a friend's family member who did hunt it.
Out of respect for the animal, I am going to utilize all of the meat that I've been given. I'm also an advocate of more sustainable meat production and prefer to get meat in my particular part of the country this way. Out of respect for those who choose not to eat meat or consume meat in this way, I would substitute salmon and Patagonian shrimp for a pescatarian version or French green lentils for a vegetarian version.
I also made Aligot (Mashed Potatoes w/ Cheese) yesterday (pronounced, a-li-ɡo). You can easily skip this step and just use mashed potatoes! Aligot is a French dip made with mashed potatoes and cheese that vaguely resembles fondue. I decided to hold back on the cheese slightly and make a little bit more potato-heavy variation of aligot. However, you can easily substitute mashed potatoes with just about any cheese that you want to grate on top. A lot of shepherds' pies use
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Variations of Venison Shepherd's Pie
I don't make shepherd's pie all that much. It's absolutely delicious when I do! Although there are a plethora of other casseroles and pie-like concoctions, if you're in the mood for something similar.
This Venison Shepherd's Pie has yellow onion, garlic, carrots, tomato, Guinness beer, Worcestershire sauce, corn, peas, jalapeño, Yukon gold potatoes, mozzarella, and gruyère. You can do just typical mashed potatoes on top, rather than making Aligot. You can also add, substract, or substitute any amount of produce, cheese, and seasonings that you like or have on hand. Casseroles are a great dish to mix and match your own favorite ingredients. As long as you follow the basic steps, exactly what you put in the shepherd's pie is up to you. I like to add a splash of Guinness to mine, but you can also add more meat or vegetable broth. You can also substitute lentils for a vegetarian version and omit the cheese for a vegan variation.
Add onion, garlic, and carrots to a large oven-safe saucepan and drizzle with olive oil. Cook on medium heat (about a 5 or 6 on my stove) for 10 minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Stir occasionally.You can start with the onion, sauté until almost translucent, and then add in the garlic and carrots. This is all up to you, though. I sometimes skip the gradual stages and just go for everything at once! I've certainly never taken a bite of something and gone... "Hmmmm you know what, this is great. But you know what would have been better? If you'd waited 3 more minutes to add the carrots."
Mix in the ground venison and all of the dry spices (cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper) and cook until it has browned and easily breaks apart, about 6-8 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally.
Mix in the minced tomato and flour.A lot of recipes here will call for tomato paste, but it really isn't necessary! It's just for consistency and a well-diced or pulverized tomato will do just fine.
At about this point you're going to want to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add broth, Guinness, and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced.If your pot isn't large enough to add all of the liquid at once, so I did this in stages as it cooked down.
Add the peas, corn, and jalapeño. Cook for another 5 minutes, making sure to still stir occasionally. The mixture is ready when the liquid has just about completely reduced out of it.
Aligot
Peel and dice potatoes. They should be able an inch thick. Place in a large pot and cover with 2 inches of water.
Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 10-15 minutes, or until tender. You should be able to stick a fork in them and have it break in two pieces. They're not quite cooked if the fork comes out cleanly. And they're overdone if it breaks apart completely, instead of just in half.
Drain and put potatoes through a potato ricer.You don't necessarily need a potato ricer. You can mash the potatoes with a mixer. You're going to want the potatoes as smooth as possible without turning it into porridge. So, skip the fork or potato masher, unless that's your only option!
Place the potatoes back in the pot, or in a large saucepan, add butter, garlic, and about half of the heavy whipping cream.
Bring the mixture up to medium-low heat and start mixing in the grated cheeses. Alternate with a little bit of cheese and a little bit of cream until they're fully incorporated. You're looking for a stringy consistency where the cheese mixture stretches without breaking.
Bake Shepherd's Pie
Place in the oven and cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes.Everything is already still cooked and likely still warm, so this doesn't take too much time in the oven! The mashed potatoes should just slightly begin to brown and you're set to serve immediately.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
I only briefly described how to make aligot (although you can also substitute mashed potatoes) here because they're a very minor steps in this process! But they can be deceptively simple and I would never suggest buying powdered mashed potatoes out of a bag. For a more in-depth article on the matter, check out The Fundamentals of Making Mashed Potatoes and The Fundamentals of Aligot.
This recipe is almost vegan and gluten free, but not quite! There is gluten in almost all beer and I added flour for consistency. You can get away with not adding the flour, but it might be a bit trickier to find a Guinness without barley in it!
Butter and Worcestershire sauce are also not vegan, although can easily be substituted. It would also be important to find a beer manufacturer that doesn't use animal byproducts in the refining process. Guinness Draught, Guinness Extra Stout and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout don't use isinglass in the filtration process and are vegan (Guinness' "Frequently Asked Questions").
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