Shepherd's Pie

This is recipe is really nice coming into fall and winter. It's a comfort food that comes together pretty easily though there are quite a few steps involved. I've heard some people use instant mash potatoes to shorten prep time, but I've never tried it. Traditionally 'Sherpherd's Pie' is made with lamb, but that's not something we usually keep stocked... Someday we'd like to try it that way, but for now we just use ground beef. So I guess this is actually a recipe for 'Cottage Pie'?

This is an adaptation of a couple of different recipes that I think turned out really well. It was a combination of one recipe that fit in an 8x8, and another that fit in a 9x13. Our finished product fits somewhere in between those two, ha! You could put it in a 9x13 and it would be a little thin so you'd have to adjust the cooking time or add a little more of everything else. So this is just a starting place, easy to adjust for however much you want to end up with, just add more mashed potatoes, meat and vegetables. We ended up cooking this recipe in a 7x11 baking dish we had and it filled it completely. So Yummy!!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 cups potatoes 
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp cream cheese - you could leave this out, but it does make the potatoes really thick and creamy, it's a nice touch if you've got it
• 1/2 - 1 cup shredded cheese - half for mixing in potatoes, half for topping finished casserole
• Salt and Pepper to taste

• 1 - 1 1/2 cups frozen vegetables thawed in water from boiling potatoes - use a mix of whatever you have on hand, peas, carrots, corn

• 1 1/2 tsp oil - you could use vegetable or oil, whatever you prefer
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1-2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 3 heaping Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp ketchup
• 1 can of low sodium beef broth - We used Swanson's 14.5 oz can, you could use a smaller can, just adjust the flour accordingly. You could also use regular sodium, I've just found it's harder to plan for that as you're seasoning your meat and you don't want it too salty. 

PREPARATION:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still a little firm. About 15 min. Drain but keep water in pot, and mash. Mix in butter, cream cheese and half shredded cheese. Salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
2. Thaw frozen vegetables in potato water and set aside.
3. Heat oil and butter in frying pan. Add onion and sweat until translucent. Add ground beef and cook until half way done. Add garlic, flour and cook until fragrant. Add Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and beef broth and bring to a boil. Continue simmering until thick. 
4. Remove from heat and mix in thawed vegetables.
5. Spread ground beef mixture in an even layer in bottom of baking dish. Top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.
6. Bake in oven preheated to 375 for 20 min. or until golden brown.