My Simple and Comforting Shepherd’s Pie

Ready for a comforting dinner for a cool evening? Michael likes to order Shepherd’s Pie along with a black and tan (Guinness Stout layered on top of Bass Ale) at a local British pub. You can make your own shepherd’s pie using leftover roast or other meat by adding vegetables, gravy and mashed potatoes. Bake it in a casserole dish and enjoy this simple meal tonight. It’s easy.

If you’re like me and try to dirty as few dishes as possible, you can start everything in an oven-proof skillet and bake it in said skillet. What could be better than a one pot dish using leftovers? It’s easy to decide what to cook for dinner tonight!

I had some pan juices left from a previous lamb roast and stock I had made using the bones, so that was the jumping off point for this dish. You can use beef stock or whatever style of gravy you have or can easily make. Don’t worry about what’s traditional. Just use what you think will taste good. My lamb stock had some tomatoes in it, which wouldn’t normally appear in a shepherd’s pie, but it created the base for a delicious gravy and that’s all that matters to me. That’s the foundation of zero waste cooking.

Preparation

First, boil your potatoes until fork tender. Drain, season and mash the way you usually would once they’re done. I use butter and plain yogurt. If you have leftover mashed potatoes, here’s a great way to reinvent them.

Then, I browned some ground beef in a skillet, added some minced garlic and some dried herbs: rosemary, French thyme and oregano. If your stock/gravy needed some more flavor, I would start with onions. In this case, my pre-existing pan juices/stock already had plenty of onion, so I skipped that.

Add whatever vegetables you like. I chopped up some carrots and tossed in some frozen peas. After pondering adding corn or mushrooms, I decided my skillet was already full enough especially after adding the stock.

I wanted to thicken up the stock, so I ladled a bit into a small cup and whisked in a dash of flour to combine. Added it back to the skillet. If you’re starting with gravy that’s already thick enough, that step would be unnecessary.

Finally, I plopped ice cream sized scoops of mashed potatoes on top of the surface and smoothed it out a bit with a spatula. Baked in the oven until everything had cooked down to the right consistency and the top was golden. How long was that? Probably about 50 minutes at 350. You know, I just keep an eye on things and timing will depend on the size and depth of your baking dish and how much and how thin your liquid was when you began. I call it intuitive cooking without a recipe.

Basic Ingredients:

• ground beef or lamb
• gravy base (i.e. lamb stock and pan juices)
• mashed potatoes
• peas
• carrots
• garlic
• dried herbs( i.e. rosemary, French thyme and oregano)

What do you think of this simple shepherd’s pie? Ready for more comfort food and cooking without a recipe? Learn to Lighten Up Old School Comfort Food with my take on Beef Stroganoff.