This was Shepherd's Pie with American Spoon's Portobello Mushroom Relish.
I have consumed dozens of American Spoon's fruit jams so far, but never their savory cousins. I bought their portobello mushroom relish for J. I thought him might enjoy one while I was spooning sour cherry compote or blueberry preserves on my toast. The relish was very mushroomy and flavorful with a strong kick of vinegar and garlic.
One day we were going to make shepherd's pie for dinner, and J suggested to add the relish in it. I thought that was a brilliant idea, just like Branston pickle relish that Gordon Ramsay uses in his Shepherd's pie recipe and I did
last time. The pie was great. I couldn't clearly identify the relish, but certainly one generous tablespoon of it was in the pie, and it became a part of the rich and tasty pie. By the way, I couldn't find ground lamb at a local Wegmans store, so I bought ground bison instead. I had thought lamb was a key flavor of shepherd's pie until I tasted this bison version. It was very much like a shepherd's pie. I guess, lamb wasn't a key; perhaps, a lot of fresh thyme and Worcestershire sauce were.
