Shepard's Pie

When my sisters came home for the three day weekend, they wanted me to make Shepard's pie. I've never made it before, but basically it's like a pot pie but mashed potatoes instead of pie dough on top. This recipe comes from Paula Deen on foodnetwork.com. It doesn't sound the like the traditional pie, but then again, I'm not an expert. This one has mashed potatoes on the bottom, meat and veggies in the middle, and then biscuit on top. Also, it has tomatoes, which I don't think of when I think of pot pie. All in all, it didn't taste bad...it just made a lot. The recipe is supposed to fill one 9x9x2 dish. It ended up filling two dishes...one rectangular pan and one souffle dish. One of my sisters was cleaning out the kitchen in the house she shares with other college people. No one claimed the souffle dish, so she took it back home with her, haha.

Shepard's pie - makes 12-15 servings

1 onion
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
16 ounces tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups assorted veggies
1 cup gravy (I made it from an instant gravy mix)
6 potatoes
1 1/2 cups milk
12 tablespoons butter, separated into 4 and 8
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups Bisquick

1. Scrub the potatoes thoroughly. Cube the potatoes and make sure they are all about the same size. I cut them to one inch cubes. Put the potatoes in a pot and fill the pot with water until the potatoes are covered with a one inch layer of water. Add some salt, put a lid on the pot, and heat on high.

2. Cook the potatoes for about 15 minutes. If the starch starts to bubble up too much, leave the lid off. To see if the potatoes are ready, take one cube out and smash it with a fork. If it gives easily, then the potatoes are done. Once done, drain the water out and place the potatoes back in the pot.

3. While the potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in a large pan. Add onions and cook on medium-high heat until browned. I also cooked some of my veggies at this time. I had a bag of frozen veggies, and some chopped celery, so threw in the celery after the onions were browned. Add all of the ground beef. Use a spatula to break up the meat and mix the meat around occasionally. Cook until the meat has browned up a bit.

4. Add the tomato sauce, cook for one minute, and turn off the heat.

5. Heat 1 1/2 cups of milk and 8 tablespoon butter. I just microwaved them together. In a separate container, melt 4 tablespoon of butter.

6. The potatoes should be done by now. Use whatever tool you have to smash the potatoes. You can use an electric hand mixer too.

7. Once the potatoes are mostly mashed, add the heated milk and butter, and the sour cream. Continue to mash until it's smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. If it's too dry, add some more milk.

8. Preheat the oven to 375. In a medium mixing bowl, combine 2 cups Bisquick with 1 cup of milk. The mixture will be thinner than usual, but not runny. Small lumps are okay.

9. Grease your baking dish. Layer the bottom with the mashed potatoes.


10. Add your veggies.


11. Then the meat.

12. Pour the biscuit batter over the top. Try to spread it evenly, then pour the melted butter over the top.


13. Bake for about 45 minutes until the top is nice and brown.


Oi, so many carbs.