While the weather still has a chill in the air, you can bet I’m making all the comfort foods I can muster. Soon, the kitchen will be too hot to want to slave over soups and casseroles, so I’m working them all in to my weekly menus while I can. This week it’s Shepherd’s Pie! This English dish is the very definition of comfort food: ground beef with spices, veggies and topped with mashed potatoes. There are many versions, and I’ll admit that mine is probably one of the easiest. It’s probably actually a “cheat version” but I don’t care: it’s still delicious! Keep reading for this simple recipe.
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup frozen peas and carrots mix
1 TBL ketchup
1/8 TSP black pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 4-oz. packages of instant mashed potatoes
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 cups milk
Instructions
Preheat over to 400 degrees. Brown ground beef and onion in large skillet. Pour off any excess fat.
Reduce heat and add soup, ketchup, black pepper and peas and carrots mix. You may have noticed that my soup doesn’t look like cream of mushroom- and that’s because it’s not! Lately I seem to have a problem reading recipes correctly and so I bought cream of chicken instead. However, it still tasted great! Don’t be afraid to use what you have in your pantry.
Turn off heat and then add mixture to a pie plate or small casserole dish.
Heat butter and milk in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, turn off the burner and move pan off of heat. Add in both packets of mashed potatoes and stir until they are stiff.
Then add mashed potatoes to filling mixture! You don’t have to smooth them out because the more peaky they are, the more brown they will get. I just plop mine down and purposely make them uneven. Then pop in the oven for 15 minutes or until they are browned to your liking. Just be careful not to cook too long because you don’t want to dry out your potatoes.
Remove from oven and enjoy!
I love this recipe because it’s ready in 30 minutes, from prep to table. While it may not be gourmet, it’s tasty and filling and something I’m pretty sure your family will love! It’s inspired by Campbell’s Shepherd’s Pie.