Hubby loves the meat and potatoes and is overjoyed that I've agreed to eat some beef now and then. One of his fave's while I was avoiding meat was a frozen organic shepherd's pie from Natures. Back in the day I too enjoyed a hearty pie so I decided to try making one for the first time.
Through my few internet searches I learned that a Shepherd's pie is made with lamb, duh! A similar pie made with beef is called a Cottage pie. Nonetheless I've decided to use a recipe from epicurious titled Shepher's Pie.
We raced home this evening to slave away over the stove for hours... ha! Seriously.
Andy took potato duty and got busy peeling, dicing and boiling the russets for good old mashers while I got to the meat of the situation. This slicing and dicing carrots and onions. Once those were sauteeing I dumped 1lb James Ranch ground round into the center of the pan of frying veggies.
This was about the time my cats began molesting my legs. In order to tame the beasts I retrieve a few choice chunks of burger and transferred those to three small plates for the boys. Simian is really the only one of the three that enjoys these kinds of treats but I feel obligated to divy a portion for all knowing full well Simian will clean up after the others. A short while later I heard Andy screaming "Nooooo!" As it turns out, the burger had a bad reaction with whatever Simian caught and ate earlier and all of it ended up on the dining room floor. Yuck!
Finding his stomach baren Simian took up his place on my leg and continued grinding and purring to no avail.
In the meantime, I'd added approximately 1 Tbs tomato paste, 1/2 cup red wine, 1/2 cup organic chicken broth, several splashes Worcerstershire, minced garlic, diced fresh rosemary and fresh Italian parsley to the sauteeing veggies and burger. This simmered for several minutes and I added some fresh ground pepper, garlic powder and salt. Cooking a few minutes more and then a taste test. Good, but I added a splash more wine and Worcerstershire :p
It all comes together, meat and veggies on the bottom, topped with the mashers to bake at 375 for 30 minutes.
Looks fantastic! I think... taking my enzymes now :P
