Shepherd's Pie

So tonight I made Shepherd's pie for dinner. Although I'm not an ounce of Irish I do enjoy Irish food, and I feel I know a pretty decent amount about it. I especially love my dad's corned beef and cabbage, it's even better than my boyfriend's Irish grandma's, and he's all Italian, go figure! If you haven't tried Shepherd's pie I suggest you take care of that asap. It had something for everyone, beef, herbs, veg, a little cheddar cheese if you feel so compelled, and to top it all off, a mashed potato top broiled until golden. And it's easy as pie to make (bad joke I know, but I couldn't resist). What really made this recipe taste completely authentic was the tomato paste. I know it may seem a little unimportant because there's only two tablespoons but trust me, it's what takes it from something that would be served as a frozen dinner and homemade goodness. It is also very important to put butter in the mashed potatoes to help in the browning when it's broiled. I had an issue with the broiler though, I set it on high and put it under there for 4 minutes like the recipe said but I couldn't see it was a tad bit dark, okay really dark, until I pulled it out, oops. But this is Foodie's First Encounters, and this was my first encounter with the broiler. So lesson learned, I would not put the broiler on high when doing this recipe.

(Note the ooey gooey stew like, slow-cooked goodness inside)

Shepherds’ Pie
2 T butter, divided
1/2 c diced onion
1 cup quartered mushrooms
1/2 c diced carrots
1/2 c flour
1/2 ts salt
1/4 ts pepper
1 t garlic
1 lb beef cubes
1 3/4 c beef broth
1 ts tomato paste
4 c HOT mashed potatoes
melt butter, saute onion, mushrooms, and carrots. remove and set aside. combine flour, salt , and pepper in a shallow bowl coat the beef in mixture. Heat 1 T butter, saute garlic, add beef in batches and brown. Add broth to hot skillet and deglaze. Bring to a boil and reduce liquid by half. Stir in tomato paste. Return veg to pan, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Uncover and cook for 15 minutes longer. Place hot meat mixture in deep dish pie pan, top with hot mashed potatoes. Broil about 4 minutes until top is golden.



I used ground beef because that's what I had on hand and spruced it up with sage, nutmeg, and fresh thyme, because let's face it, this recipe is a little on the simple side. I also threw in about half a cup of cheddar cheese which made it really fun when everyone was scooping it out because you could see all the cheesy stringy goodness :)