Shepherds' Pie & Sherlock

I made Shepherds' Pie for dinner, and Ben liked it, even though it had celery in it. I've made shepherds' pie before that he didn't like very much, so I googled for British recipes for shepherds' pie, and found this one.

The meat and gravy filling:

• chopped carrots & celery
• onions
• ground meat
• 1 T flour
• 1 c chicken stock
• 1 t. thyme
• 1 t. rosemary (ground)
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• salt
• pepper

The mashed potato crust:

• mashed potatoes
• butter

Put the meat & gravy mixture in a baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes. Brush with butter. Sprinkle on paprika. Bake until the crust is a little goldeny.

I didn't think it had enough gravy, and the potato crust didn't get very crust-like, but it was still good. Next time, more gravy and something different with the mashed potatoes.

In googling for British recipes, I found out that traditionally, in Britain, shepherds' pie is made with lamb. I guess that should be obvious...shepherds and sheep. But when it is made with beef it is called cottage pie. I don't really understand the connection there. I used ground turkey, so I am not sure what it would be called. The ancient Britons (or whoever invented shepherds' pie) didn't have turkeys, so I don't think there is a traditional name for it. Maybe all non-lamb pies are cottage pies?


Also, I watched the third episode of Sherlock today. It was good, but not as good as the first one. I thought they jumped into the Moriarty problem too quickly. Where do they go from here?