Shepherd’s Pie with squash topping
I bought a lovely squash in the market with a view to stuff it. I halved it then baked it in the oven face down in a couple of centimetres of water. Unfortunately I left it too long so when I took it out of the oven it just fell apart. I’d already created the filling so the only option was to invert everything and create a Shepherd’s Pie with a squash topping! It turned out to be a really nice alternative to the usual mashed potato.
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C. Clean the squash, cut in half at its equator and scrape out the seeds.
- Place the two halves face down in about 2 cm of water in a small roasting pan then put in the oven for 25 or 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, peel & finely chop the garlic and onion. Heat the oil in a medium-sized heavy-based casserole dish and add the garlic, onion, lamb. Stir over a medium heat for 5 minutes to brown the meat, adding the herbs and seasoning.
- Pour in the tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer for about 15 minutes, allowing the liquid to reduce so it’s not too runny.
- Place in a suitably-sized ovenproof dish. Take the squash from the oven and spoon the flesh over the meat then smooth it down a bit with a knife.
- Sprinkle some grated cheese over the top, then pop under a hot grill until nicely browned.