Comfort Food Time Of Year

Shepherd's Pie needs to be on the menu.  Simple, inexpensive, and delicious!

Ingredients

• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1.2 pounds ground beef/round
• 1.2 pounds ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce  
• 1/2 cup beef stock or chicken stock
• 1 small package of frozen baby peas (didn’t have those last week when we made this)
• 1 small package of frozen corn
• Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, recipe follows
  

Directions
Preheat oven at 400 degrees F.

Add butter and oil to a pasta pot on medium heat. Saute onions, carrots, celery and garlic until tender for about 7 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and whatever spices you’d like – add some heat if you’d like. Once the vegetables have softened and start to brown a little add the tomato paste and mix evenly. Add the ground beef and cook until beef is no longer pink about 10 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce and beef stock. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook and simmer  for another 10 minutes. Mix in peas and corn. Place potato on top of ground beef mixture in your pasta pan or cast iron pot and spread out evenly, once the top surface has been covered, rake through with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. Place the dish into the preheated oven and cook until browned about 20 minutes. Spoon out the shepherd's pie.

 Mashed Potatoes

• Mashed Potatoes
• 4 pounds potatoes quartered
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
• 1 cup grated mature white Cheddar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

Fill a large saucepan  with cold water and a tablespoon of salt. Add potatoes to the water and bring to a boil . Let potatoes cook until soft about 20 minutes. Once the potatoes are at a desired density, drain the potatoes and place them back into the saucepan for mashing. Add butter and cream or sour cream and begin to mash potatoes into a semi smooth consistency. Once at desired texture add cheese  and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.