Posted by lorna-organic on Tue, Feb 3, 09 at 10:36
Two Versions of Shepherd's Pie
Shepherd's Pie is great COMFORT food. Mashed potatoes are the "crust" of your main dish pie. The traditional version is to spread leftover mashed potatoes into a pie plate, then fill with loose cooked ground beef, onion, carrot and gravy. Peas can be added. Carefully smooth a thin layer of mashed potatoes around the edges of the top, leaving a circle of the filling exposed. Bake at 350 until potatoes begin to brown.
I created a variation using sweet potatoes and ground pork. I spice the pork with mustard, sage, thyme and garlic to create a sausage flavor. Cook and mash sweet potatoes. Line a pie plate with sweet potatoes. Fill with cooked loose cooked ground pork, gravy and onions. Spread a thin layer of mashed sweet potatoes around the edges of the top, leaving a circle of filling exposed. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350. Ground beef can be substituted for the pork.
Cook a pound of meat to the halfway point on high flame to brown it and bring the fat out. Pour off the fat. Add chopped onion, carrot. salt and pepper to taste. To make the gravy, sprinkle 1 tblsp. of flour onto the loose meat, stir in and cook for 5 minutes. Add two cups of boiling water, stir in rapidly. Simmer for about ten minutes.
