Shepherd's Pie

I have been looking for a good Shepherd's Pie recipe and came across this one in People Magazine, of all places! It was pretty good...my husband particularly seemed to like it. One thing I will do differently next time is the carrots. The recipe calls for a whole carrot, grated. I used the crinkle cut carrots and they didn't get cooked all the way through. So, next time, I will probably just buy the julienned carrots, or leave them out all together, because I really don't like carrots that much anyway, unless they are covered in butter and brown sugar! But that's a whole 'nother story...



Also, I halved the recipe, but am writing the recipe as is. It halved well, so feel free to do that if you have a small family, like mine.



The recipe is broken down into 2 parts...the pie and the potatoes...we'll start with the pie:




Ingredients:



1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 carrot, grated
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups beef stock or broth
3 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper, to taste
1 (10-oz) package frozen peas



Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and lightly grease a 3-qt casserole dish.


2. Brown the beef in a large skillet over medium high heat. Drain and remove from pan. In same pan, saute carrot and onion for 4-5 minutes. Feel free to add a little butter to the pan, if needed.



3. Remove the carrots and onions and melt the butter. Whisk flour into butter...making a roux.



4. Add beef and vegetables to the roux and stir everything together. Add stock, ketchup and Worcestershire and cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then add peas.





4. Spoon meat mixture into casserole dish.



Okay, now for the potatoes:


Ingredients:

8 medium potatoes

1/2 to 3/4 cups milk

4 Tbsp butter

2 oz cheddar cheese, grated (see my Note About Cheese)

salt and pepper, to taste

Steps:

1. Peel and quarter potatoes and put into large saucepan. Cover with water and boil with a few teaspoons of salt for 20 minutes. OR do like I do...If you have a Large Micro Cooker from Pampered Chef, you can cook them in the microwave. Because microwave times vary, I would start at 7 minutes and go from there...they are done when you stick a fork into one and it comes apart.

2. Drain potatoes. Add 1/2 cup of milk and the butter to the potatoes. Mash together with masher or electric mixer until smooth. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of milk if necessary. Stir in the cheese and season the potatoes to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Spoon mashed potatoes into casserole dish, covering meat mixture.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the potatoes start to brown.

5. Serve immediately. Makes 8 servings.