Shepherd’s Pie and Coconut Ice-Cream Pie

               

A savory pie & a sweet pie.

Quite different. But equally challenging.               

Challenge number one: a leg of lamb.

I was mildly worried about how I would cut this up (or maybe I would have to boil it whole?). But I was so excited at finding lamb at all, in the Halal meat section of the foreign food market, that I summarily dismissed all worries.

Yes, it was a nightmare to work with. You have to flex the leg to find the joint, which reminds you that this is an actual leg, which makes you realize you’re working with lamb and not sheep. That’s sad:( It did not help that it was also nearly impossible to cut through the joints – with my skills and knife, anyway.

But somehow it was done.

And then it was topped with a mashed potato and homemade crouton “crust.” OK, the croutons were added because I didn’t make enough mashed potato to spread all the way to the edge, but they ended up giving the dish a nice rustic finish (not to mention some crunch).

Challenge number two: the coconut.

How to open a coconut (literal directions): poke holes in the eyes, drain the milk, crack open the coconut, and separate the meat. It’s really quite simple, if you leave out the fact that the shell was probably as hard as my skull. I thought about dropping it from my 11^th story window, but thought that it would probably just dent the sidewalk.

How to actually open a coconut: check out Youtube.

Every layer had some form of coconut in it, from crust to topping :)

I even managed to find a street cocktail vendor willing to sell me just a couple of shots of coconut rum (to spike the ice-cream and whipped cream). He seemed very skeptical about my request, but I’m used to that by now!

And we had a feast.

I thought the shepherd’s pie was a nice British counterpart to the French boeuf bourguignon I made several months ago. Truth be told, I think I prefer the French dish because of its nuanced depth of flavor. But shepherd’s pie was definitely heartier, and even gave off a vague air of the holidays. Can’t really pinpoint which one, but something about the meat and mashed potatoes made it feel like I should be sharing it with a large group of people wearing funny matching sweaters… Ah, must be my quasi-Anglo-American (and somewhat imagined) upbringing!

And the coconut ice-cream pie reminded me of my sister. She’s loco, I mean coocoo for coconut!