Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Kendra left me with a sticky note of the four recipes she would like to have, and the first one that I'm going to tackle is Shepherd's Pie.  There are a lot of variations to this recipe. It is something pretty simple and you can't go wrong as long as you have the four layers: meat, vegetable, potato and cheese.

This recipe makes one pie plate of Shepherd's pie - you can double it if you would like to make it in a 13x9 baking dish.  Start by preheating the oven to 400° and lightly greasing a pie plate.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 small can tomato paste

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

4-6 potatoes, peeled and cubed *

1/2 - 1 c milk

1/2 stick (1/4 c) butter

salt

pepper

frozen peas OR peas and carrots OR corn

1-2 c shredded cheddar cheese ** (optional)

*A note about potatoes - choose these depending on size. If they are pretty large you can probably use 4-5, but if they are small you could use as many as 8. You'll need enough mashed potatoes to cover the top of your Shepherd's Pie in a pie plate.  A good potato that has body and doesn't get too mushy is an Idaho russet potatoes. 

**A note about shredded cheese - it is more economical to buy and shred your own cheese. It is also more flavorful. However, for convenience sake, you can buy the pre-shredded cheese. One reason to avoid pre-shredded cheese is that it is covered with cellulose so that it won't clump together. 

Do all the prep work - dice onions, mince garlic, peel and cut potatoes into medium sized cubes.  (Do potatoes last so they won't get brownish gray while they sit - and if you have to pre-peel them, you can put them in cold water with a little salt to keep them nicely.)

Put on a large pot of water to boil for the potatoes. This will require some multi-tasking - but once the water is boiling, add the potatoes and cook until tender. 

In the meantime in a skillet, brown the ground beef with the diced onion and minced garlic.  Salt and pepper to taste. Drain the grease not into your drain, into a jar or can to save for flavoring beans or throw away or into a bowl to scrape out into the trash once it congeals. (Never, never drain grease into your sink drain.) Stir in the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce over low heat until beef is saucy. Leave beef on low or warm while you prepare the vegetables and potatoes.

Cook vegetables in a small amount of water to warm through in another pot - and drain thoroughly.

Drain the potatoes once they are done and return back to the hot pot they were cooked in with 1/2 stick of butter, salt and pepper and 1/4 c milk and use hand mixer to whip the potatoes.  Add more milk if the potatoes are too stiff, but they should be thicker for this recipe. 

In a lightly greased pie pan, layer the meat mixture on the bottom, then the vegetables.  When adding the mashed potatoes, drop by heaping spoonfuls all over the pie and then gently smooth. You want to try and spread the potatoes without disturbing the layers underneath. 

Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are lightly brown and crusty.  If you are adding shredded cheese, sprinkle on the top and put back into the oven for 5 minutes until melted. 

Yum! Yum! Happy cooking - - and eating!