Red Beer-braised Beef Shepherd's Pie

My grandmother and I always made a great shepherd's pie on cold winter days. Nothing is more comforting than some good mashed potatoes, accented with celeriac, with meat and good corn. I still remember the aroma of the onion cooking with the ground beef. I had a lot of trouble mashing the potatoes and I remember she added a lot of butter! This version is a tribute to the dish of my childhood. Did you know that this dish was invented in the 19th century during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway? Back then, workers were fed corn, beef and potatoes but it’s the Asian workers who started to combine their rations and created this dish! French Canadian workers started to name it "pâté chinois” shortly after.