Saturday, June 5, 2010

Shepherd's Pie




I have always been a fan of this lovely, simple, old-timey meal. Meat, potatoes, vegetables and cheese all in one pan. How can you beat that? Way back when, Mothers used to make this out of the bits of meat and veggies they had left over and covered it with the cold mashed potatoes from last night. Now, in better times, it is just a tasty comfort food that sticks to the ribs. Enjoy!




Ingredients:


1 pound ground beef or turkey


2 cups hot mashed potatoes


4 ounces cream cheese


1 cup shredded cheddar cheese


2 cloves garlic, minced


4 cups frozen mixed veggies, thawed


1 cup gravy




1. Preheat your oven to 370` F. Brown the meat in a large skillet. (While doing this, cook and mash your potatoes.) Drain.




2. Mix potatoes, cream cheese, 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese, and the garlic until well blended.




3. Stir vegetables and gravy into the meat.




4. Spoon the meat mixture into a 9x9 inch square baking dish.




5. Cover with the potato mixture. Don't worry about it being perfectly even; the more imperfect it looks, the better.




6. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until it is heated through.




Makes 4-6 servings.




Notes: I choose to scoop the meat out of the pan, leaving the drippings. Then I made a simple gravy (about 3 tbsp. flour, 1 cup of milk, and the fat drippings.) This worked out just perfect for me and saved me from either dirtying up another pan or buying super salty jarred gravy. Also, make sure your veggies are completely thawed! Mine were not and so I ended up having to bake it for another 10 minutes. This did not harm it in any way, it just took longer to bake than I expected. You can also use instant mashed potatoes for the topping and it works out well. Just omit the milk from the package directions, that way when you mix in the cream cheese they stay fluffy.




All in all, we really enjoyed this! Zach took leftovers to work the next day and lots of his co-workers said it smelled and looked yummy and one of them said he remembered his grandmother making it for him.

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