Shepard's Pie - A Midday Cooking Adventure

This is a well-loved, time-tested recipe. The point of my blog is not necessarily to share new recipes but to try and document how the heck someone makes a home cooked meal for their family while juggling all the other beautiful chaos occurring in a typical household.

This recipe falls into my "Midday" category because I make it in the middle of the day on those days that I don't have time or don't want to cook in the evening. (I can either serve this all by itself or in the evening quickly cook some green beans to go with it.) Today I decided to make it during the hour prior to nap time while my daughter was eating lunch, playing and watching Sesame Street.



First things first: Ingredients.  My recipes are not exact. I am all for experimenting with a dash of this or a dash of that but for the purposes of this blog I will try to be as exact as possible.

Ingredients:
1lb ground lamb - thawed (you can also use ground beef)
1-2 carrots
1-2 celery stalks
1 medium sized shallot (or a small onion)
10-15 small potatoes
1/2 cup frozen peas
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 ounces of butter (I use Earth Balance butter spread as a non-dairy option)
1-2 tablespoons of milk (I use almond milk. You could use any kind of milk or water)
garlic salt
sea salt
pepper

Here is how I managed to cook this meal today.  Below you will find the "ideal world" cooking instructions.

First I finely chopped the shallot, celery, and carrot while my daughter happily played with her doctor kit. I managed to get it all in the pan before the first "Mommmy I Neeeeeeed you." The great thing about sautéing these on very low heat is that it takes a while and frees you to do something else.  Ideally I would have been peeling potatoes but today I was making my daughter's first lunch, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Once the onions are clear and the carrots have started to soften it is time to add the meat.  I usually just put it in on top of the sautéed vegetables. I can't be bothered with taking out the vegetables and creating more dishes to be cleaned. I try to leave some chunks of meat big enough for my daughter to pick up and eat. At this point I really, really should start peeling potatoes (which I hate doing) but my daughter has now rejected the PBJ and insists she really wants macaroni and cheese.  So I prepare her second lunch and throw in a load of laundry.

Now the meat is cooked but I haven't peeled the potatoes. No problem.  The meat can sit for a while and wait. I open the cupboard and realize I only have seven small potatoes. I should have checked before I started making the meal but I can't turn back now! I peel them and hope for the best. I am always worried about quantities and it always seems to work out in the end. In between potatoes I am running over to feed my daughter her macaroni and cheese off her fork. She used to do this happily on her own but right now she insists on having me do it.

Once she has finished her lunch I quarter the potatoes and put them in a large pot to boil with a dash of sea salt.  I boil them until they are just about falling apart.  While they are boiling I clean up lunch, draw some rainbows, and have a mini-dance party.  It is almost nap time, but I have to mash the potatoes so I put on Sesame Street.

I make my mash potatoes dairy free so I use a splash of almond milk (probably 1-2 tablespoons) and a few dollops of Earth Balance Butter Spread.  If the potatoes aren't mashing well add a little more liquid.  I also like to use a few dashes of garlic salt.

Now I add the peas to the frying pan along with some water, salt, garlic salt and pepper.  I bring the heat back up just until everything starts to simmer a little.

By this point I have a very tired little girl hovering around my legs so I quickly dump the meat mixture into a medium sized casserole dish and scoop the potatoes on top hoping there is enough to cover the whole thing. There is! It always works out. Be sure to spread the potatoes over all of the mixture sealing the edges.

In the oven it goes and off I go to put my daughter down for a nap.  A good tip I learned the hard way, put the casserole dish on a cookie sheet in the oven. This way if the liquid from the meat bubbles over it is easy to clean up.

Now all that is left is a very messy kitchen, a half done load of laundry and a delicious smelling meal in the oven.

In an ideal world here is how the cooking would go:

In a large pan sauté the shallot, celery and carrot in the olive oil on low heat until tender. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Brown the meat on medium heat until cooked through. Drain extra fat.

While everything is sautéing and browning peel potatoes, quarter them and boil them in a medium pot with a dash of salt.

Add shallot, celery, and carrot back to pan along with a few dashes of garlic salt, sea salt and pepper.

Add 1/3 cup water and peas. Bring to a simmer.

While waiting for that to simmer mash the potatoes with butter, milk and a dash of garlic salt.

Put meat mixture in medium sized casserole dish, top with mashed potatoes and put in oven at 350 degrees.  Cook for 20-30 minutes until the top begins to lightly brown.  

If only it were that simple!