Shepherd's Pie

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray, adapted by Mary

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 25 min

Level: Easy
Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

* 2 pounds potatoes, such as russet, peeled and cubed
* 1 cup milk (maybe more to fluff up potatoes)
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
* 1 3/4 pounds ground beef or ground lamb
* 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 cup beef stock or broth
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire, eyeball it
* 1/2 cup frozen peas, a couple of handfuls (I didn't add peas)
* 1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Directions

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Add milk into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth.

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with beef or lamb. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. If you are using lamb and the pan is fatty, spoon away some of the drippings. Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables. Stir in peas.

Preheat broiler to high. 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. Serve

It's called 30 minute Shepherd's Pie, but it can't be made in 30 minutes. It could be called 60 minute Shepherd's Pie and not really rated as easy. It took me 4 pans to prepare plus the baking dish. After all that work, it wasn't really that great - a little bland, actually. I made it for dinner this evening because it was a cold rainy day and I had some ground lamb from Wegman's. It seemed like a good idea at the time!