Finally Friday: shepherd’s pie
October 28, 2016
I love food, and I love cooking for my family now so by somewhat popular vote, I’m sharing some of our family-approved meals here with you, on Fridays.
How I generally try to cook: 3-5 ingredients per dish; use fresh ingredients if possible; time from prep to table goal is 1 hour or less. I aim to serve a starch, veggies, and some protein. Sometimes dessert if I’m feeling incredibly motivated but that’s pretty rare.
It’s cool weather again so I’ve hauled out the Le Crueset for a stovetop to oven dinner. I’ve never made a classic shepherd’s pie, so don’t be surprised if this all looks a bit weird to you. The important thing is that the family will happily eat it.
Ingredients:
1 lb of ground turkey
2 diced zucchini
1/2 diced tomato
1/2 cup frozen sweet corn
1/4 cup frozen shelled edamame
1 tbsp onion powder
1/2 tbsp garlic salt
2 potatoes and 2 cups of beef broth to make mashed potatoes topping
I started the mashed potatoes in a medium pot first. I boil my diced potatoes in broth for extra flavor so I can skip the butter and milk or cream. Nothing against them but I prefer to save those fat calories for something really delicious, like butter filled pastries. Mmmm…..
While that was bubbling away, I start to saute the ground turkey with the spices, experimenting with not using black pepper to see how that changes the flavor, over medium heat in the Le Crueset. While that’s cooking, I cut up my vegetables, deciding against adding carrots and onions because that’s ten more minutes of sous chefing on my feet. Once they’re ready, in go the vegetables, including the frozen ones, and everything is cooked through in about ten more minutes.
The heat gets shut off while the potatoes finish cooking through, and I wash all the dishes that were waiting in my spare five minutes. That done, the potatoes are ready to be smashed with a wooden spoon, added to the Le Crueset, and topped with a sprinkling of cheese. Ten minutes at 350 degrees in the oven finishes it off while I prep some broccoli to steam on the side – if JuggerBaby rejects some of the shepherd’s pie veggies, ze will nom on the steamed broccoli. If ze doesn’t, then the broccoli goes into zir lunch for tomorrow.
Total time from prep to serving: 1 hour.
Your shepherd’s pie is healthier than mine. I like to use ground lamb, carrots, peas, mushrooms and onions for my filling, cooked with garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce and a bit of beef broth for flavor. Smashed red potatoes (with skin on) with butter for topping.
Now that sounds like a classic recipe. If I can get ground lamb at a reasonable price here, I’ll give it a try!
Your approach sounds like my #MomFriendlyMeals! I’d love to see more recipes.
I use ground beef, onions (only a little–Mr. Sandwich doesn’t like them), garlic, Worcestershire, stock, and frozen vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes. This is one of my go-to meals for fall/winter, although I didn’t make it much last year.
I keep thinking about getting some Le Creuset, but I haven’t managed to get over the cost yet.
Most of my friends and I each have just one piece of Le Crueset because of the cost, but because we are cooking so much now, and we use it so many times that I’d say the cost per use is pennies now. It *sort* of helps with the feeling I get when I spend too much money on a thing.
I had to look up “edamame” … I appreciate the fact that you make this basic meal much more healthy than the classic version I’ve always eaten. I tend to alternate between healthy & either expensive or time consuming and not-so-healthy, but filling, good, classic, easy, frugal. You’ve made the healthy, frugal, not-a-time-sinker work together here. I’m glad I voted with the winning side and you’re doing this every Friday. Thanks!
Thanks for voting yea, I’ve shared recipes in the past and there was no response so it made me leery of trying again. I’m aiming to hit that sweet spot of healthy, yummy, filling and frugal with each recipe.
Mmmm, Shepard’s Pie š Usually when I’m making it I use a combo of ground beef, garlic, onions, carrots, and bell peppers. I’ve been adding mushrooms lately because my husband is a fan. Whatever is handy in the fridge works though š
I also operate on the “whatever’s handy” principle š