Shepherd's Pie Hand Pies
Everything you love about shepherd's pie wrapped in a flaky pie crust. Fluffy mashed potatoes are the bed for a delectable filling of ground beef, carrots, pea, and onions all smothered in a savory brown sauce and wrapped neatly in a thin layer of pastry.
Servings 16 pies
Ingredients
Crust*
- 3 C flour sifted
- 1 C shortening ice cold and cubed
- 1½ tsp salt
- ½-¾ C ice cold water
Mashed Potatoes
- 2 large russet potatoes
- 4 Tb butter room temperature
- 2 Tb heavy cream
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Beef Filling
- 1 lb ground beef 90/10 or lean
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 carrots
- 1 C frozen peas
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- 2 Tb flour
- 1 C beef stock
- 1 Tb fresh parsley
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
Horseradish Cream Sauce
- 3 Tb mayonnaise
- 2 Tb sour cream
- 1-3 Tb creamy style horseradish
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 Tb fresh parsley
- 1 Tb fresh lemon juice
- dash of worcestershire
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 Tb water
Instructions
To make crust (optional)
- Sift 3 cups flour onto a sheet of parchment paper. Use the paper to transfer flour to a large food processor bowl equipped with a standard blade or a large mixing bowl. Add 1½ of salt.
- Remove cold shortening from fridge. Cut into small cubes, trying to handle as little as possible and add to the flour. Pulse the mixture in the processor about 10 times until mixture resembles pea-size crumbs. You can also use a pastry blender or your fingers to combine.
- Slowly add the cold water starting with ½ cup and adding the rest 1 Tb at a time, if necessary. Pulse the food processor or stir together until dough forms a ball. Wrap
- Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour or until cold all the way through. When ready to fill the hand pies, remove the dough ball from the fridge and split into two equal pieces with a bench scraper or large knife.
To make mashed potatoes
- Rinse and peel the potatoes. Dice into 1-inch pieces and place in a medium saucepan. Cover with cold water and place over high heat to boil.
- Boil for 15-20 minutes or until fork tender. Strain and pour potatoes back into saucepan and add remaining mashed potato ingredients. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes. It's totally fine if there are still some small lumps of potatoes. This is supposed to be a rustic dish!
- Spread the mashed potatoes evenly across a quarter sheet pan and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to chill. While mashed potatoes are chilling, make the filling.
To make filling
- Finely dice carrots and onion. Mince garlic clove. Roughly chop parsley. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add carrots and onions. Stir and leave undisturbed for 2-3 minutes or until the veggies start to soften.
- Once veggies have softened, add ground beef. Break up the meat into bite size pieces. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.
- Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, minced garlic clove, and worcestershire to pan and stir to combine. Cook for 60-90 seconds or until garlic is fragrant.
- Add 2 Tb of flour and stir until there is no visible white flour. Add 1 C of beef stock and frozen peas. Bring to a low boil and cook for 1-2 minutes or until sauce has thickened and peas are no longer frozen. Add
- Add fresh parsley and thyme. Turn off heat and place the hot pan on a cooling rack to cool. Spread out evenly in the pan to help it cool and stir occasionally. While it cools, make your sauce then assemble the pies.
To make sauce
- Mix all of the sauce ingredients together.**
To make hand pies
- Preheat the oven to 400° and prepare two baking sheets with non-stick foil, parchment paper or baking spray. Make an egg wash by cracking 1 egg into a small bowl and whisking with 1 Tb of water. Have a pastry brush, bench scraper, fork, cookie scoop, pizza cutter, and rollingpin out on your countertop.
- Place the dough on a well-floured surface and roll out to ⅛-inch thickness. Your end goal is a large rectangle that is about 8-inches tall and 18-inches wide that you will cut into twelve rectangles that are each 4-inches tall by 3-inches wide.***
- Each hand pie will require two pieces of dough, one for the bottom and one for the top. Add a 1 Tb scoop of mashed potatoes to the bottom piece of crust. Spread the mashed potatoes out a bit with your fingers and then top with 2 Tb of filling.
- Use a pastry brunch to brush all four sides around the filling with the egg wash. Place your second pie crust on top and gently push the filling down to fill the bottom square, leaving a clean border around the edge for sealing. Presh down along the edges of each hand pie and use a fork to completely seal.
- Carefull remove each pie from your surface and place on a prepared baking sheet. Add two small diagonal slits across the top of each pie to let steam escape.
- When ready to bake, brush each pie with egg wash and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with horseradish cream sauce.
Notes
* Making pie crust from scratch is completely optional. If you prefer to use store-bought dough, I like the refrigerated kind (not frozen) that you find with biscuits in a tube. You will need 2 packages, or 4 crusts, to make 16 hand pies.
** Be advised that I give a wide range of horseradish that you could possibly add. I love the flavor so I add about 3 Tb to my sauce, but if you don't like strong spicy flavors or have never had horseradish before, I would start with 1 Tb and taste before adding more.
*** A ruler is handy for this part, but if you're doing it by hand, f*ck it, do your best. They will still taste amazing. Also, if you're using store-bought crust, it often comes in a circular shape. Feel free to cut the circle into eight even triangle-shaped pieces instead of rectangles to reduce waste.