Shepherd's Pie: Peasant Food for a Cold Night

Roger is not into gourmet meals these days.  So I make comfort food in our little “make do” kitchen.  This is a slightly scaled down version of Shepherd’s Pie.  Ordinarily it makes good leftovers for lunch the next day, but in our circumstance I make a half recipe so there will be less waste.  It's simple peasant food, filling and homey on a brutally cold night like tonight.  It’s not quite as good as the Shepherd’s Pie from Sean Kelly’s in Missoula, but then, nothing is.

Shepherd's Pie

6 medium red potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 cup cream or half-and-half

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 small package of ground beef (just over a pound)

1 ½ cups frozen mixed vegetables

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic

1 small can sliced mushrooms

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup beef stock or broth

2 teaspoons Worcestershire

1 sprinkle sweet paprika

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Add cream or half and half and butter to potatoes and mash.

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with beef. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. Add chopped garlic, mushrooms and onion. 

Sprinkle flour over the brown ground beef mixture and stir it in.  Gradually add in broth and Worcestershire sauce.  

 Heat and stir 1-2 minutes until gravy thickens.

Use the saucepan the potatoes were cooked in to cook the frozen vegetables until tender.  Drain and set aside.

Preheat broiler to high. Layer the bottom of a small rectangular casserole with the each meat, mushroom and gravy mixture.  Spoon the vegetables over the top of the meat.  Add the mashed potatoes as the top layer.  Dot with butter and sprinkle with a little paprika.

Broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned (about five minutes).

  Enjoy.