Seismic Shepherd's Pie
Shepherd's pie is comfort food at its most elemental: braised lamb under mashed potatoes. When the mashed potatoes are made from Seismic potato at 50,000 SHU, every forkful of fluffy, buttery topping carries cayenne-level heat. The filling stays savory and mild. The contrast is the whole point.
Prep
20 min
Cook
40 min
Total
1 hr
Servings
6
Peak SHU
50K
Featured Organisms
Ingredients
- 4 Seismic potatoes (SS-POT-03), peeled and cubed
- 4 tbsp butter
- ½ cup milk
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 cup peas
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire
- Salt, pepper, thyme
Instructions
- 1
Boil Seismic potatoes until tender. Drain and mash with butter and milk. Season with salt.
- 2
Brown lamb in a large oven-safe skillet. Add onion and carrots; cook 5 min.
- 3
Stir in tomato paste, broth, Worcestershire, and thyme. Simmer 10 min.
- 4
Add peas. Spread mashed potato over the top, creating peaks with a fork.
- 5
Bake at 400°F for 25 min until golden on top.
Tips
- Fault Line potato (10K SHU) for a milder version.
- The peaks brown first — creating a map of crispy capsaicin-rich bites.
Mashing breaks potato cell walls and releases amylose starch. Capsaicin binds to the butter's milkfat in the mash, creating a fat-soluble capsaicin delivery system. The butter-capsaicin complex melts into the lamb filling as the pie bakes — heat migration downward.