One of the staples at my house during Passover is crustless Shepherd’s Pie. I love meat pies and have a special fondness for tourtiere, a family favorite that is a nod to our French Canadian heritage. My husband lived in England for a year and quickly became enamored with traditional pasties, dough pockets with meat and vegetables in them. While we love the flaky crust of a chicken pot pie, we also love a simple Shepherd’s Pie, which is a dish of meat, gravy and vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes.
While a dish with a baked potato topping is sometimes called Cottage Pie, the name Shepherd’s Pie is particularly appropriate at Passover because of Moses’ role in it. According to the Bible, at the time when Moses saw the burning bush, he was a shepherd, a trade he adopted from his father-in-law Jethro. As you serve this dish at the family table, tell the story of how Moses fled to Midian and married Zipporah and was a shepherd for many years before leading the Israelites to the promised land.
Be inspired by these Shepherd’s Pie recipes:
Garlic Shepherd's Pie
Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
Italian-Style Shepherd's Pie
If you keep kosher (or kosher for Passover), try a recipe that calls for creating the dish from scratch to avoid chametz and kitanyot as well as dairy. Excellent mashed potatoes can be made with Passover margarine and vegetable broth.