Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie is a comfort food, and God knows where it comes from.  Some say it's Irish, some say it's English, some say...  well, people say lots of things.  If it's a true shepherd's pie, it was probably made from lamb, because shepherds herd sheep, but hereabouts, we use beef.  'Cause we don't eat much mutton.

A good shepherd's pie combines three things; meat, gravy, and potatoes.  Any shepherd's pie combines these three things, and I've played with the recipe a lot over the years.  Tonight, while talking about supper, Milady said that she'd like to make a shepherd's pie, and I'm okay with that, so we'll use her recipe (which is different from mine, but still very good.)

You'll notice that when I post a recipe, I don't talk about certain things, like salt and pepper, or the oil that we use to sautee an onion.  I assume my readers are smart enough to know about salt and pepper, or how to sautee an onion.

Milady's Shepherd Pie

Ingredients
One onion, chopped.  I don't care what kind of onion you use.  I happen to have a sweet Vidalai, so we'll use that.
Ground beef.  We're using about 1.5 lbs tonight.
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Mashed Potatoes  (fresh, or out of the box.  I don't care.)  Fresh is better, boxed will do.
Grated cheese.

Preparation

Chop that onion and sautee it in a large skillet.  Black iron works best, but use what you have.
When the onion is clear and sweet, add the beef and cook it.
Put on the water for your potatoes and prep the mashed potatoes.
Drain the beef, return to the skillet and add the cream of mushroom soup, and a little water.  Let that simmer for a while.

In a large Dutch oven, or a casserole, pour the ground beef mixture in, then top with mashed potatoes.  Add grated cheese and run it into a 350 oven until the cheese melts.

Oh, damn, that's good.

5 comments:

Old NFO said...

Yum... Drooling over here... I may have to do that this weekend! :-)

Gerry N. said...

I used to make something similar when I was hiking in the N. Cascades. 2C reconstituted potatoes, 1 can mushroom soup, as it is in the can, 1/2 can reconstituted dry milk, 1 can roast beef in gravy, pulled apart, 1/4 C. dry minced onion, shredded cheese. Reconstite the spuds, add the rest to the pot, warm it up and put on the cheese. This will fill up 2 or 3 Boy Scouts according to size and appetite of boy, or an adult or two according to size and appetite of adult. Bring plenty, it's easy and quick to fix especially with today's fast mashed potatoew from Idahoan.

Yep, guys. The supermarket is leagues ahead of the sporting goods store for cheap, edible food. Go food shopping with da missus and keep your eyes open.

The bigger chain stores have house brands of the same stuff as advertized on the TeeVee at as much as half the price and the same taste.

(Dollar Tree had some Brazilian tinned roast beef for less than $1 a can a few weeks ago. I bought #20 worth 'cause all I had was a $20. I'm goin' back on Thurs, 'cause that's when my pension check hits the bank. G-d, I do so love being retired.

Born cheap and had a relapse ol'

Gerry N.

El Capitan said...

I like to defrost about a pound of frozen green peas & diced carrots in the microwave, pour off any excess liquid, then stir them into the pot before topping with the taters.

A little extra color & texture makes it tastier, IMHO.

Daddy Hawk said...

Not that you will probably care about the distinction, but I was informed by a proper British lady that this recipe is actually Cottage Pie as it uses ground beef. Shepherd's Pie uses lamb meat. I really don't care either as I eat it regardless of the name.

Anonymous said...

I made it the other night for Greg and the kids. I browned my ground beef and onion, and made a gravy from a pack (gasp! Nasty pack gravy? Actually the pioneer brand has a pretty good pack of brown gravy.) Layered it in the bottom of a casserole dish, put a couple cans of peas and carrots, drained of course, on top of the meat, and put betty Crocker 4 cheese potatoes on top of that. Ran it on the oven for about 20 minutes. It was soo good!

~MissChelle