St. Patrick's Day Countdown: Shepherd's Pie
Written by Ciaran on Mar 08, 2026 | 0 Comments
We’re counting down the days to March 17th with an offer and a potato-stuffed recipe for you every day until St. Patrick's Day! Check back in with us each day to see what’s up next!
Our recipe for today is a good fit for our St. Patrick’s Day Countdown. Like our stew yesterday, it’s a dish featuring lamb or mutton, and named for the people who keep them. Given that St. Patrick was famously a shepherd in his early days in Ireland, it seemed this potato-packed pie more than deserved a spot in our countdown.
Was Patrick a shepherd?
If his own autobiography of sorts, the Confessio, is to be believed, then yes! The unfortunate Patrick was kidnapped from Roman Britain and sold into slavery in Ireland as a youth. He was put to work shepherding, and it was on these lonely hills where he recounts that he found deep faith:
"in one day I would pray up to one hundred times, and at night perhaps the same."
Stunning Slemish Mountain in Co. Armagh. One of the sites linked with St. Patrick in his days as a shepherd. There are still plenty of sheep there to this day!
Photo Credit: J. Chadwick
Patrick, of course, wouldn’t have had the good fortune to eat Shepherd's Pie. The potato wouldn’t arrive in Ireland for another 1300 years, give or take! And it would be a few hundred more before the first mention of Shepherd's Pie in historical records.
Irish, English, or Scottish?
It’s in Scotland that we find the first record of a dish layering mutton and potatoes in 1849. An English version using beef called “Cottage Pie” was documented earlier still in 1791.
It would be easy to get lost in the weeds debating the true origins of this dish. But like our stew yesterday and the Coddle of Day 5, Shepherd's Pie was food of necessity and of a largely poor, rural community across the British Isles. So it’s very unlikely that the first recorded recipe marked its invention. Nor that there was ever any one true version of the dish.
People looking for ways to feed a hungry family and reduce food waste most likely resorted to layering leftover meat and vegetables with potatoes to form the pie crust, given that flour would have been far more expensive and not as readily available.
And the Shepherd’s Pie you find in Ireland today certainly fits the bill of being filling, nourishing, comfort food, even if it’s not typically made with leftovers. You will find it on the menu of Irish pubs up and down the country, and as a staple even today in many Irish homes. In years gone by, it would have been baked in the same cast-iron pot as everything else, and most certainly would have been made of mutton rather than lamb. But otherwise, it is relatively unchanged since the 18th century.
Family Memories
More than any of the recipes we have shared so far, it's this one that brings back fond, cosy memories of visits to my grandparents' house. There would be out-and-out scraps to get the browned "crispy bits" of mash off the top - so you have been warned! I wasn't the pickiest eater, but I could have done without the larger pieces of onion. I worked around them, though, to enjoy all the rich warmth of this dish.
And it is this warming goodness that makes Shepherd's Pie an ideal St. Patrick’s Day dinner. As we mentioned before, March in Ireland can be COLD! This will have any chilled parade goers thawed out in no time!
Ingredients
For the filling
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, finely diced
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 1 tsp soft fresh thyme leaves
- 450g (1lb) lean minced lamb
- 2 tsp plain flour
- 1 tsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp strong mustard (ideally the proper Coleman's mustard powder!)
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 450ml or 2 cups of lamb or chicken stock
For the mash:
- 1kg (2 lb) potatoes, cut into chunks
- 25g (1oz) (2 tbsp) good Irish butter
- 4 tbsp milk
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Heat the oil a large, heavy-based pan and then add the onions, carrots, and thyme and cook over a medium heat until the vegetables have softened and taken on just a little colour.
- Add in the minced lamb and cook until browned, breaking up any lumps with a wooden spoon.
- Sprinkle and stir in the flour, then add the tomato purée, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to mix through.
- Gradually add the stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until the lamb is tender.
- While your lamb simmers, make the mash by placing the potatoes in a large pan of boiling salted water and cooking for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
- Drain the potatoes and then return them to the pot over a low heat for a couple of minutes to dry out completely. The drier the mash, the more butter it can hold!
- Mash the potatoes until smooth, then mix in the butter and milk.
- Transfer the lamb mix to a large baking dish and leave to cool, and preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
- Cover the cooled lamb mixture with an even layer of the mashed potatoes. Bake for 30-40 minutes until bubbling and golden brown.
- Serve family style with the shepherd's pie in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves. Some garden peas are a good accompaniment on the side, or you can add them to the lamb mix if you want - either way, you will have your green covered for St. Patrick’s Day!
What's Next?
Check back in with us tomorrow for Day 9 of our St. Patrick's Day countdown, or open Door Number 8 of our 17 Days of celebratory offers! This is a special piece to mark International Women's Day. The pendant waiting with 20% off features one of the fiercest Irish women in history.
Happy International Women's Day
Given the day that's in it, you may want to learn more about incredible Irish women. We have blogs about female Celtic Warriors and famous female characters from mythology and history.
Or perhaps you may want to learn more about influential women in your area and, of course, to celebrate and cherish the fantastic women in your life wherever you are this International Women's Day. We hear incredible things from our customers about the astonishing resilience, creativity, and love of the women in their lives—we are always deeply honored when you share your stories with us.
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Ciaran
My Irish Jeweler
Born in Co. Antrim and reared in Dublin, I was fascinated with Gaelic culture from an early age. I suppose it's not surprising given my mother inherited a grá for the Irish language from my grandfather, an Irish school headmaster. And that grá continues! My brother and sister are now Gaelic teachers here in Ireland, my niece is an award winning Irish dancer, and I proudly work to share Irish culture through our Irish and Celtic Jewelry at My Irish Jeweler!
I love researching and reading about the history of Irish design. It's at the core of what we do here at My Irish Jeweler. I find much of it so interesting that I have to share what I find. I hope you enjoy it!
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