Dubious about shepherd's pie

[PickyEaters]

OH and I are embarking on a healthy eating plan to lose weight. He has suggested shepherd's pie to go on the meal list as he "can't eat salad every day" (I like salad). I have never eaten shepherd's pie (I'm an immigrant) but it doesn't look very healthy to me (minced fatty lamb, potatoes and gravy with a few overcooked peas thrown in?), not to mention it sounds like it would taste disgusting! Isn't this something that featured heavily inschool dinners of the 1970s and should be banished to memory?

This version looks particularly appetising...

I use dried green lentils but I cook mine in the pressure cooker so just sling them in dry.

Then on the other side of the coin ....

@Oysterbabe
dried lentils are good at absorbing the stock arent they? im always a bit scared to use dry ones in case the lentils stay but hard or firm ....so i add pre cooked ones in when it looks the right consistency, nothing worse that the potato sinking in if the filling is too wet, i guess its all experimentation

Don't use Rate My Plate for meal inspo

There are lots of healthy shepards pie recipes. I prefer cottage pie.

but as others have said bulk it up with lots of vegetables. But as part of a balanced diet, low fat mince, carrots, peas, onion, celery and potatoes is not particularly unhealthy.

Slightly over done but delicious.

That looks lush!

@TwoMonthsOff may I have this recipe please? x x

@PickyEaters
🫣I didn’t make that - it’s just a delish looking one I posted a pic of to counteract the grim looking one…..it might have a recipe with it though…….hold on will see if I can find it again

@PickyEaters
www.taste.com.au/recipes/vegetarian-shepherds-pie-cheesy-mash/tkk7u286

After seeing this delicious-looking photo......is it OK to eat shepherd's pie for breakfast? Asking for a friend.... 😘😅

Rude OP, I’ll take your bluntness with good grace though as you said you weren’t British 😀.

anyway, I make mine when I’m on a diet with Quorn, only mash the potatoes with milk and salt and make onion gravy. It works out very calorie friendly and very filling.

certainly beats a salad in November 😉.

Another vote for cottage pie rather than shepherds. We add lots of veg to ours too

@ExhaustedFlamingo hehe that was one from the internet to offset the manky looking one then OP asked for the recipe. 😢 cooked cheese topping always looks good 🐷

@CheapWine you’re right- I love salads but they don’t work in the Winter, only as side salad with something hot

Not overdone, the little burnt chewy leeks are delicious.

You can eat “normal” food and loose weight.
Just go for leaner cuts of meat and portion control. No need to have a salad every night. Plus some type of exercise to get your heart going.
If your portion is to big no amount of salads will help you loose weight. There is also the possibility of excess water in your system if you’re also drinking 2lt.

Thanks! will try the canned lentil method.

Shepherds pie is delicious. Also, fat is not the enemy. Sugar is.

I do a variant we call posh farmers pie. Beef mince, onion, beef stock, italian herbs, tomato puree topped with toasted butternut squash, black pepper and a sprinkle of grated parmesan.

Prob not as healthy but i do smaller portions with lots of veg. Much nicer to have something that tastes good than a larger portion of bland imo.

@Towcester you can put dried ones in, but I am used to the cooking method I use, I would not know how long to cook them for. The canned ones basically just need heating through so it’s easier for me.

@Towcester
www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/different-types-lentils

says all about difference between lentils and their uses

I'm glad to see that Wikipedia supports the naming of pies I grew up with. Sunday roast, Monday cold meat with jackets (No cooking for Mum involved with the wash), Tuesday - shepherd's pie with either sheep meat or beef, minced in the mincer left overs. Mrs Beeton used either meat in hers. No reference to cottage pie until ready meals appeared. Except once.
I asked Mum what she would do if we hadn't had mash for the topping, and she said, cottage pie, with the cold potatoes sliced and laid on to look like a cottage roof. And the mash was forked to look like a shepherd's hair. Not sure about that. Mum's make things up to quieten inquisitve offspring, don't they?
I am sure, though, that the shepherds were employees who did not own the sheep, and the only sheep meat generally available to them would be tails, and any other dangly bits removed from lambs. Otherwise it would be theft. And those meats wouldn't mince well.
Shepherds and cottagers would have their own pigs - I have often thought it odd that there is no porky version of the pie.

@Treaclemine
thats so sweet about the roof and the hair 🙂