Bear Paw Meanderings
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It is September and if it ever cools off September signals the beginning of fall and a wonderful time to start cooking those casseroles that you missed so much during the long hot summer.
My version of Shepherd’s Pie I have given out the recipe before but it is so comforting, so delicious and so fall like that it is worth the work to put it all together.
Consider Shepherd’s Pie to be a three pronged attack. First get a whole mess of the largest Yukon Gold potatoes you can find, boil them after peeling or leave the peelings on for that matter. When tender, mash with a cup of butter and an 8oz cream cheese block. Both the butter and cream cheese should be at room temperature when mixing them with the mashed potatoes. Then add a cup and a half of your favorite cheese and reserve.
Now for the vegetable portion of the pie. Get some good root vegetables like a couple of onions, diced, a couple of stalks of celery, diced, three large carrots cut into thin rings, a rutabaga, diced and maybe three large parsnips cut into thin rings. Fry these in some olive oil until just getting soft. Use plenty of salt and pepper. When to that point, pour into a large mixing bowl and add to your frying pan more olive oil and a pound and a half of hamburger. A friend of mine says that I should make it with ground lamb and that is even more traditional but I am not that bold. If you want and you love lamb, by all means use it but it tastes wonderful with the hamburger that you have sautéed with a couple of hot banana peppers or one red bell pepper. Add a cup of water and a tiny can of tomato paste, lots of salt and pepper and a little sugar and mix well together. When that mess is done, add it to the mixing bowl of vegetables and stir it well.
Now let’s assemble the pie. In a large pie plate and I do mean large, add the meat and vegetable mixture. Completely cover with the mashed potato mixture and bake at 350 for at least an hour and a half.
Bake maybe even two hours. The consistency of the potatoes completely changes the longer you bake the pie. This pie will run over so be sure to put the pie plate on a cookie sheet or something like it while cooking.
Let the Shepherd’s pie cool for fifteen minutes and serve to raves!
Bon Appétit!
