Bitchin’ Shepherd’s Pie

I was once again inspired by Bitchin’ Kitchen.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday, filled with lots of family, lots of together time and (for me) lots of cooking.

We had dinner out on Wednesday night, I was thrilled and fortunate to meet a new friend. My husband’s childhood friend. We had dinner with Melissa and her parents on Wednesday. Then, Thursday was filled with driving, family, food, driving, cooking, family, more food and A/C drama.

I did NOT participate in the Black Friday sales craziness.

We had left-over turkey on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, I was (honestly) ready for something different.

You can only eat so much left over turkey….am I right, or am I right?!?!

Bitchin’ Kitchen to the rescue.

This tasty twist on Shepherd’s pie looks, in a word….Awesome.

I fiddled with it. For taste reasons, for what I had on hand reasons. I also used mostly frozen veggies. I’m wild like that.

Hey, what can I say…I’m trying to clean out my freezer.

The things you find in your chest style deep freeze. Tons of frozen veggies, cheese, muffins (how long have they been there eh?) frozen stock, frozen fruit and a chicken that was clearly trying to hide itself as a veggie because it was totally surrounded by veggies. Good try chicken. Good try.

Here is my edited “what I had on-hand” version……

What you need:

• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cans of cream corn or frozen cream corn or freshly made cream corn *I used frozen*
• 1 cup of fresh, frozen or canned corn *I used frozen Mexi-corn with onions and green & red peppers in it*
• 1 1/2 – 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones) or 1 package frozen mashed potatoes *I used frozen-it’s microwaveable*
• 4-5 tablespoons butter
• heavy cream, a few (4-ish) Tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• a couple of grinds of pepper
• 1 teaspoon of tarragon
• 2 teaspoon of parsley
• enough bread crumbs to sprinkle the top of the potatoes

What to do:

• Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes). Or Microwave the frozen, ready to mash potatoes.
• While the potatoes are cooking, add ground beef to a hot pan and sauté until no longer pink. Drain fat. Add salt and pepper. Add onion. Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
• Place beef and onions in baking dish.

• Add cream corn, corn, parsley, tarragon and a Tablespoon or two of heavy cream to the pan the meat was in, cook until warm and bubbly.

• Pour cream corn mixture over the beef and onions.

• Mash potatoes in bowl with butter and a Tablespoon or two of heavy cream, season to taste.
• Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and place a few slices of butter into the potatoes (I used 3 small slivers on top)

• Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Use the Broil setting for last 5 minutes to brown.

I think that you could exchange the meat for beans quite successfully and make this a vegetarian dish. I have not tried making this particular dish a vegetarian dish. Not yet.

This recipe makes a lot of Shepherd’s pie. We have enough left for another meal, or left-overs.

How was your weekend? How was your Thanksgiving Holiday (if you are in the U.S.)?

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