A Shepherd’s pie, also known as a cottage pie, or hachis Parmentier is a ground meat pie with a crust of mashed potato. The pie’s recipe has many variations, and some of the ingredients include ground red meat that is cooked in a gravy or sauce with onions, and topped with a layer of mashed potato. It is possible to cook a little too much shepherd’s pie so to keep it for a long time you end up putting it in the fridge or freezer. The best way to reheat your shepherd’s pie is in the oven. Below is a description of how you can warm up your shepherd’s pie whether it is frozen or coming out of the refrigerator in an oven.
The Oven Method To Reheat Shepherds Pie
When reheating a shepherd’s pie, or any other baked good, in the oven, there are some key principles you should consider to ensure that everything ends up tasting the way you want it to. Consider whether your pie is coming from the fridge or your freezer. Reheating baked goods coming from your fridge in the oven is usually a fairly easy process. If you are warming up your shepherd’s pie from the fridge you need to preheat your oven, remove your pie from the refrigerator, and place it in an oven-friendly container, cover your food with tin or aluminium foil to prevent loss of moisture, and bake the food for a set amount of time, then remove the food, let it cool down to a desirable temperature, and serve when ready. When it comes to reheating meals that come out from your freezer, you need to thaw the meal before it can be reheated in the oven.
Warming Up Your Shepherd’s Pie from your Fridge In The Oven
To properly reheat your shepherd’s pie from the fridge simply follow these steps,
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius),
- Remove your shepherd’s pie from refrigerator and remove lid or cover,
- Put your shepherd’s pie into an oven-friendly container,
- You can make use of a cast iron pan or a baking dish such as a casserole or baking pan,
- Cover your shepherd’s pie with tin or aluminium foil, This is important, to keep all of the moisture and flavour of your shepherd’s pie from evaporating,
- Ensure to seal your shepherd’s pie with the tin or aluminium foil as airtight as possible, the slightest exposure will lead to loss of moisture and flavour, which could cause your shepherd’s pie to end up tasting dry or stale.
- Place your covered shepherd’s pie into the oven and let it heat up for 30 minutes,
- After 30 minutes have passed, take out your shepherd’s pie from the oven,
- Remove the tin or aluminium foil and take a toothpick, knife, or fork and stab the centre of the shepherd’s pie, all the way down to the bottom of the pan to check if it is hot or warm enough.
- Remove the toothpick, knife, or fork to see if it is hot to the touch. If it is, you now know that the shepherd’s pie is heated all the way through and it is ready to serve. If not, simply cover your shepherd’s pie with the tin or aluminium foil and place it back into the oven for an extra 5-10 minutes,
- After 5-10 minutes have elapsed, remove the shepherd’s pie from the oven, remove the tin or aluminium foil, and let it cool down this usually takes just a few minutes,
- Serve when ready,
Reheating Shepherd’s Pie From Your Freezer
If your shepherd’s pie is stored in your freezer rather than your fridge, the reheating process in the oven is almost the same to the process you would follow when reheating from the fridge, which is fairly simple. You have two options for reheating a shepherd’s pie from your freezer which are; letting your pie thaw in your fridge the night before you plan on reheating it, then follow the steps outlined above for reheating a shepherd’s pie in the oven from your fridge or to follow the steps described below. Keep in mind that the steps are similar for reheating a shepherd’s pie from your fridge, the only difference is that you will be baking the shepherd’s pie for twice as long which is approximately 60 minutes rather than 30 minutes.
Generally, letting your pie thaw in the fridge before heating it up will lead to your food heating most evenly, but placing it straight into the oven is the best thing to do if you don’t have time to thaw it.
Follow these steps for reheating a shepherd’s pie in the oven from the freezer,
- Preheat your oven to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius),
- Remove the shepherd’s pie from freezer together with the lid or cover,
- Place the shepherd’s pie into an oven-friendly container.
- You can use a cast iron pan or a baking dish such as a casserole or baking pan.
- Cover your shepherd’s pie with tin or aluminium This is important, because it will keep all of the moisture and flavour of your shepherd’s pie from evaporating,
- Make a seal on your shepherd’s pie with a tin or aluminium foil as airtight as possible. Even the slightest exposure will lead to loss of moisture and flavour, which could cause your shepherd’s pie to end up tasting dry or stale.
- Place your covered shepherd’s pie into the oven and let it warm up for an hour,
- After 60 minutes have passed, remove the shepherd’s pie from the oven,
- Remove the tin or aluminium foil and take a toothpick, knife, or fork and stab the centre of the shepherd’s pie, all the way down to the bottom of the pan it is in.
- Remove the toothpick, knife, or fork and see if it is hot to the touch. If it is, you now know that the shepherd’s pie is heated all the way through and is ready to serve. If not, simply recover the shepherd’s pie with the tin or aluminium foil and place it back into the oven for an extra 5-10 minutes.
- After about 5-10 minutes have passed, remove the shepherd’s pie from the oven, together with the tin or aluminium foil, and let it cool down to the desired temperature. This normally takes a few minutes.
- Serve when ready
