Scandinavian, British, Irish Shepherd's Pie

The title of this recipe reflects my mixed genealogy 😉 

I have distant, foggy memories of my father's tiny, very English-Welsh Grandmother making something similar, which is fitting since her maiden name was Shepherd. 

I love the concept of Shepherd's Pie, but decided to take creative liberties with each layer. The meat layer  is a big version of my Scandinavian mom's meatloaf recipe. I made meatballs and meatloaf, then froze them a week ago. For this English dish, I thawed, baked, sliced and cubed the meatloaf; using it as the foundational layer for this recipe; in a glass baking pan. 

For the vegetable layer, I partially cooked a pound of frozen green beans, with 1-1/2c frozen bell peppers added when 5 minutes of cooking time remained.

The garlic mashed potato, top layer, was an unpeeled, rustic medley of what I happened to have here. . .It's been a couple weeks since I shopped! 2 large Idaho potatoes, a big sweet potato, some tiny purple, red, and Yukon gold potatoes. Scrub them all, then dice them into fresh, cold, salted water. Stir, drain, rinse, then add new fresh, cold, salted water. For garlic potatoes, add 6-8 peeled, sliced cloves now.

Simmer over low heat, only until the potatoes are fork tender and crumble a bit. Mash, add 4oz. butter -I used a soft-spreadable blend of EVOO, butter and sea salt- add fresh ground black pepper, a tiny sprinkle of cayenne, just a little garlic salt, Rough mash all this with a hand masher, adding just enough half and half, sour cream, or heavy cream to make it soft and cohesive, but not loose.

Since each of the 3 layers is cooked separately, once assembled, sprinkle on a cup or so of shredded, sharp cheddar cheese, bake 20 minutes and serve. Mine went together today. I'm chilling it, covered, overnight and it'll be ready to pop into the oven after church tomorrow.  Shown here unbaked.

A half hour before serving, heat in a preheated 350° oven for 20-30 minutes, just to bubble the entire thing all the way through and melt the cheese. Let stand 5 minutes then cut into squares to serve. 

A fresh green salad or some coleslaw would pair nicely with this, to cut the richness of the dish. This will reheat well and taste great the second or even third time you serve it. . .Lin

Shepherd's Pie

I've never made one of these.  My sweet, tiny little Grandma, whose maiden name was Shepherd, was from England.  I think she may have made this once or twice when I was very young, but my memory of that is foggy.  I wasn't sure I even had the right idea about what they are.  I did a quick Google search and found that my idea was far more complicated, but decided to go with it anyway.  I made a meatloaf base, separate from the vegetables and topped, 'frosted' it all with mashed potatoes, so 3 layers total.  This mades a lot of food, which was a good thing for today.  The largest container is for a big family I know.  I gave one of the little ones to a friend who stopped over earlier, and the other one is for me.  This made 20 servings, so it's a good thing to make for a hungry crowd.

MEAT LOAF LAYER

Start with the vegetables.

Chop the vegetables, then break up all the meat and mix everything together in a giant bowl, with your hands.

a BIG handful of fresh spinach

tops from a bunch of green onion

1 med. yellow or white onion

1 colorful sweet pepper

5-6 lg. cloves of garlic

½T Himalayan pink salt

½T Tellicherry black pepper

2# lean ground beef

1# ground turkey

1# ground pork or chicken

In a medium bowl, mix together what I call 'the glop.'

1½c rolled oats
-or- quick steel cut oats

3 lg. eggs
6oz. sour cream + 6oz. water

After 15 minutes or so, the oats should absorb enough that a spoon will stand up when the perfect level of gloppiness is achieved 😉

Bake this in well greased or parchment paper lined baking pans, in a 350° oven for 50-60 minutes.  Drain off any accumulated grease.  Prepare the vegetables and potatoes next.  When the meat is cooled, cut it into individual size servings.

VEGETABLE LAYER

Chop or slice, then cook your vegetables so they're crisp-tender. Drain and save the cooking water for soup, give it to your dogs or pour it in a cup and drink it. Cover the
meat layer with the vegetables. Today I had a colorful mix of:

1½# scrubbed carrots

2-3c cauliflower florets

12oz. frozen French cut beans

some radishes

MASHED POTATO TOPPING

Scrub 3# of potatoes.  The Yukon Gold's were nice, so I didn't peel them.  I just cut away any bad places and cut them into ½" cubes.  Steam-cook them until they're mashable.  Drain the water, season with salt and pepper, add butter and sour cream.  Put the cooked vegetables on top of the cut meat layer, then cover everything with the mashed potatoes.  Sprinkle the top with seasonings if you want and broil on low, until the top browns.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle on some shredded cheese.   Comfort Food! . . Lin