Gordon Ramsay is my favorite celebrity chef. Sure he’s enormously successful with his food and TV empire blah blah blah, but I love his tireless and meticulous nature, his juxtaposing demanding exterior and soft reverence for food and family. Past his screaming impossible-to-impress image of Hell’s Kitchen, in most other appearances (Master Chef, Kitchen Nightmares, etc) he’s a bouncy skilled chef who says the phrases “stunning” and “the most amazing” and “let the knife do the work” too often. Watching him crash his daughter’s cooking show as the lame dad figure is downright endearing. 

So yeah, in honor of posh Scottish/English/French cooking, I put his shepherd’s pie in the original list’s ~10 dishes. It involved mashing potatoes for the first time and cooking lamb for the first time. Mine came out too tomato-ey and I didn’t have red wine lying around (well, I never have wine lying around).

Shepherd’s Pie

• 1 lb ground lamb. Season generously with salt/pepper. Brown, Drain of fat.
• In 1 tbsp butter, saute 1 carrot grated, 1/2 large onion grated, 3 cloves garlic grated.
• Add meat, few sprigs thyme, 1 tbsp tomato paste. Optionally add frozen peas, canned corn.
• Add 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup red wine. Reduce to half. Add 2 cups chicken stock. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, until thick.
• Boil 2 russet potatoes halved for about 20 minutes. Skin. Mash. Add 1 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup milk, 2 egg yolks, (parmesan cheese), salt, pepper.
• Top mince with mash. Use fork to form peaks on top.
• Bake at 375 F for 20-30 minutes, until potatoes peaks browned.