Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

Serves 6-8 people. Cooking time 45-60 minutes.

Beef

• 1 lb ground beef

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tbsp. oil

• 1 tsp. basil

• 1 tsp. thyme

• 1 tsp. rosemary

• 2-3 tbsp. flour

• 2-3 tbsp. ketchup

• 1-2 cups chicken or beef stock

Mashed Potatoes

• 5-6 potatoes

• 1-2 cups almond milk (or any milk)

• 1/2 cup butter

Veggies

• 1-2 cans of corn

• Carrots and peas are also really popular in Shepherd’s pie, but I prefer to have only corn

Extras

• 1 package McCormick roast gravy

• 1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or any cheese of your choice)

Instructions

• Start with the mashed potatoes. Peel and cut your potatoes into halves and boil in slightly salted water until potatoes are soft enough that they break apart with a poke and twist from a fork (about 20 minutes).

• While boiling the potatoes, start the beef. Getting the beef and veggies ready should take about 20 minutes so it’ll time well with the potatoes.

• Chop your onions and garlic then place into frying pan/braiser with the 2 tbsp. of oil on medium-high heat.

  • If you’re doing additional veggies like carrots or peas, you’ll want to add them at this stage as well so they cook enough. If you’re just doing corn, then you can wait until the beef is done to add it.

• Once the onions start to get translucent, add the beef to your frying pan. Also add fresh ground pepper, basil, thyme, and rosemary. Break apart and cook until browned. Drain the grease.

• Add chicken or beef stock, ketchup, and flour. Let simmer for 5 minutes.

  • At this point the beef should be thickened with a bit of “gravy” from the flour and stock. If you want, you can add more flour or stock for saucier beef.

• After letting your saucy beef simmer for 5 minutes, move it to an oven safe pan (If you’re using an oven safe braiser you can leave it in that).

• Drain your corn and layer it on top of the beef.

• Preheat your oven to 350 F.

• Check if the potatoes are ready for mashing. They should be easy to poke with a fork and break apart when you give the fork a twist.

• Once the potatoes are ready, drain the water. Add butter, milk, freshly ground pepper, and salt. I like a lot of all of these things, but add the milk in small portions so that the potatoes don’t get too soft. Mash with a masher or a hand mixer until they look like mashed potatoes.

• Using a spatula, layer the potatoes over the corn. I like to add swirls and grooves with the spatula or a fork so that the potato gets crispy in the oven.

• Put into oven for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes start to get crispy

• While it’s in the oven, start your McCormick gravy. Follow the instructions on the package.

• After potatoes start to get crispy, take the pie out of the oven and set the oven on high broil.

• Add shredded cheese and put the pie back into the oven.

• Broil until cheese gets browned and crispy. Keep an eye on it because it’ll suddenly go from being melted and not brown to burnt!

• Take it out, let cool, and serve :)