Shepherd’s Pie

First of all, if you missed it yesterday, please check out this opportunity to be a part of a new cookbook that is publishing very soon. Bloggers and non-bloggers are welcome to submit recipes.

http://traveleatlove.me/2012/02/attention-boston-bloggers/ 

Hearty, warm, comforting, and mostly healthy, shepherd’s pie is a cold weather staple that can be changed up to suit the individuals making and eating it. The best part about shepherd’s pie, is of course, the leftovers. I made this shepherd’s pie for dinner on Tuesday night, and it made dinner for two and six lunches. There’s nothing I love more than having lunches out of the way. For some reason I have always hated making work week lunches!

There are many shepherd’s pie recipes out there, some vegetarian, many using beef or lamb, and some, like mine, that use ground lean turkey as the filler of choice.

I started off my pie by boiling four large Idaho potatoes and one sweet potato that had been hanging around, just waiting to be eaten.

While the potatoes were cooking, I thawed some sweet corn.

Chopped up half of a yellow onion

And I used my mandolin to cut perfect carrots. 

Photos are missing, but I cooked the turkey and onions in a little bit of olive oil in a pan, then added the carrots and corn and 3/4 of a bottle of this delicious Stovepipe Porter that we picked up in Vermont. Vermont has some great beer!

The beer added a great flavor and richness to the turkey and veggie mixture. While it simmered on low, I got my potatoes mashed with some butter, cream, and salt. I ended up with way more mashed potatoes than I needed, but who doesn’t love leftover mashed potatoes?! As you can tell, I left the skins on the potato. I’m not lazy, I actually like the skins, and they have all of the fiber.

I popped the shepherd’s pie into the oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. At the end, I set the oven to broil for about two minutes to brown the top. It was delish!

On the side we had shredded Brussels sprouts sautéed in a bit of olive oil and topped with an almond “cheese” sauce I made. I have seen so many vegan cheese sauces made with nuts, and I had some almonds in the house so I decided to make my own. I played with a mix of almonds, olive oil, water, nutritional yeast, and garlic until I got it nice and smooth. It didn’t taste like cheese or remind me of cheese in the least, but it was good!

This meal provided the perfect mix of protein and vegetables for us. It was definitely a winner!

Since we’re talking recipes, do you have an all-time favorite?