Sunday, May 17, 2009

I'm Not Becoming A Food Blogger, I Swear

Shepherd's Pie (for Wendy)

2 lbs ground beef
1 large or 2 small onions
Mushrooms, if you have them, sliced
Salt & pepper
Worcestershire sauce
A1 sauce
2 1 lb bags of frozen corn (or fresh, if it's in season)
4 or so lbs of russet potatoes, peeled and cut into approximately 1" pieces
1 head of garlic, if you want roasted garlic mashed potatoes on top
1 stick of butter
Milk

If you want roasted garlic in your mashed, start the garlic first. Preheat oven to 350. Peel as much paper off the bulb as possible and slice off the top. Put in a small oven proof dish and pour in enough olive oil to reach halfway up the bulb. I use a small Pyrex bowl for this. Bake for 45 minutes, until garlic is soft. Allow to cool before removing cloves with a paring knife. Restrain yourself from smearing it all over the nearest slice of Italian bread and wolfing it down....

Chop onions into small pieces and saute with sliced mushrooms in 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter, until caramelized - do not burn them, or it will get ugly. Remove from pan.

Brown ground beef with salt and pepper. I usually add a couple of tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and a couple of tablespoons of A1 sauce to the meat - taste it as you go and adjust according to your taste. If the beef gives off a lot of grease, spoon most of it off. Don't dump it down your sink or you will have a big mess.

Stir onions and mushrooms into the beef and then transfer to a 13 x 9" Pyrex dish.

Top with 2 small bags of frozen corn.

Boil potatoes until they can be split by a fork. Drain and return to pot. Add about a stick of butter (did I mention this is not a low-fat, low calorie recipe?), salt to taste (potatoes need a lot of salt), a splash of milk and the roasted garlic (mash it up with a fork first). Whip with a hand mixer until there are no lumps. Try not to eat too many of the potatoes before topping the pie.

Spoon on to top of the corn and bake in a 400 oven until the potatoes are golden brown and delicious. Eat.

6 comments:

Jess said...

*snort* I made Joke's chicken and Kim's tomatoes last night - looks like tonight will be Julia's Shepherd's Pie!

(we LOVE your meat marinade over here, you great foodie, you.)

Jen said...

:-) It isn't Shepherd's Pie if you use beef! When did you last see a shepherd trying to make cows do what he wanted? It's Cottage Pie if you use beef, Shepherd's Pie if you use lamb.

sandy shoes said...

Hey -- I recognize that dish from my childhood! Not the recipe, the actual blue and white dish in the picture.

My own shepherd's pie recipe has no business being called shepherd's pie. It has ground beef, kidney beans, and salsa.

Unknown said...

Yummy!!! Thank you !!!

Mike said...

Damn, now I'm hungry. And it's 11:30 at night....

Josie said...

Meat Marinade??? I must troll through your old posts.

That meal is served here often but with added shredded old cheddar mixed into the mashed putatoes before putting it in the oven:)