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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.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Resting Time 4 hours
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Cuisine: British
Calories: 1234
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Medium squash
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • I large red onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 250 g lamb mince
  • 1 tsp Italian herbs
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 tin tomatoes 400g
  • 100 ml stock

Method
 

  1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Clean the squash, cut in half at its equator and scrape out the seeds.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Sprinkle some grated cheese over the top, then pop under a hot grill until nicely browned.