The recipe I used is from Rachael Ray and is one of her 30 Minute Meals. I'm normally not a huge fan of her 30 minute meals, they always seem to lack a depth of flavor. (Although, her Sloppy Joes are to die for. I may have to put those on the menu next week...) I decide to give her Shepherd's Pie recipe a try for two reasons. 1. I had all the ingredients on hand and 2. The ingredients looked like flavors we would like.
Here's a link to the original recipe and below is how I made it. By the way, look at the prep and cook times, 15 + 25 = 40, not 30. As I've run across in the past, a lot of Rachael's 30 Minutes Meals take at least 40-45 minutes. I guess they would take 30 if you had a kitchen full of assistants running around!
Shepherd's Pie
Prep time 15 mins
Cook time 25 mins
Serves 4
Leftover mashed potatoes (about 4 cups)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (only use if you are using a lower fat ground beef)
1 3/4 pounds ground beef
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup beef broth
2 teaspoons Worcestershire
1 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1. Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat.
2. Add oil to hot pan with beef. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes.
3. Add the carrot and onion and cook with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes.
5. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables.
6. Stir in peas. And cook for 3-4 minutes.
7. Preheat broiler to high. 8. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with paprika and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned.
Yum!
I will definitely make this again. I'm going to tweek some things though, I often do that after making a dish for the first time. The meat mixture turned out a little sweet so I'm going to add onion and garlic powder to the meat next time. I'm also going to do some research to see what goes into "real" Shepherd's Pie and may do some additional adjustments. Overall, this was very good and I liked how quick it came together. Having the leftover mashed potatoes was a huge bonus because it was one less thing to worry about.