Day 15, Recipe 12: Not your average Shepperd's Pie

I know, I know- this should be called "cottage pie" because it contains ground beef and not lamb. Well, I've always known this to be shepperds pie, so it shall be called such. After 3 consecutive strike-out meals, I guess it was only natural that I reverted back to a comfort food. I love shepperds pie, it's another dish that I've made using vegetarian ground round, beef, pork and even ground chicken. Tried, tweaked- heck, I've even made it mexican! This recipe contains bits and pieces of different concoctions I've made, and even has a secret kick ; )

*Note: Many people choose to use instant mashed potatoes to make their pie. Not only do instant mashed potatoes taste incredibly salty (yes, even for me who uses a good 2 teaspoons on everything I eat- no joke), but they just don't have the same flavor IMO.

For the base:

1lb                ground beef
2                   carrots, chopped finely
2                   celery stalks, chopped finely
3 cloves         garlic, minced
1/2 can          diced tomatoes
1 t                 thyme
4 t                 all purpose flour
1/2 C             chicken broth
1 can             corn
1/2 C             frozen peas
2 T                worstershire sauce
                     salt & pepper
1 T                olive oil
1/2 C              cheddar cheese, shredded

For the topping/potatoes:

3-4                 russet potatoes, peeled
1 T                 butter
1/4 C              milk
1                    HEAPING tablespoon of horseradish
2 T                 bread crumbs

Bring a pot of water to a high boil with potatoes. Boil until tender and easily pierced with a fork. Drain water, mash potatoes with butter, milk and horseradish using a potato masher or hand mixer; cover and set aside.

In a skillet, head olive oil and add carrots, celery and garlic over medium-low heat. Cover and cook for approximately 8-10 minutes until carrots are soft. Add ground beef to skillet and break apart with a spatula, cooking until only slightly pink. Pour in diced tomatoes and flour, one teaspoon at a time. Cook for another minute.
Add spices, thyme, worstershire, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and continue to cook for about 20 minutes until the mixture has thickened, but is still saucy.
Remove from heat; stir in corn and peas.

Pour meat mixture into a casserole dish and spread out evenly. Sprinkle with cheese. Using a spatula, blob mashed potato mixture on top and spread evenly over casserole- ensure that you have covered the corners to prevent the meat mixture from bubbling over during cooking.
Use a fork to gently "rough" up the potatoes and create little peaks- they'll brown better! Liberally sprinkle the bread crumbs overtop.

I tossed this into the fridge for two hours to allow the flavors a little more time to bond together, but you can bake right away. In a preheated 350 degrees F oven, bake for 35 minutes. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with a tossed green salad and enjoy guilt free comfort food! Eliminating the milk, condensed soup and most of the cheese cut out major calories in this dish- a normal serving is usually around 700 CALORIES, wow. Considering this dish is supposed to serve 8, I didn't feel as guilty when we nearly finished it off.