Tonight's Dinner: October 21, 2014

Tonight was Nick's last night home for a while.  He was getting ready to go on a week-long business trip to Indiana.  To send him off well fed (I never know how well he eats when he travels) I made a family-sized Shepherd's Pie for the two of us.  I started with browning a pack of ground beef and adding onions and garlic to soften.  Once the onions were cooked, I added fresh corn cut straight from the cob and frozen peas. In a separate pot I had potatoes boiling for mashed potatoes and a head of garlic roasting in the oven.  I also made a packet of all natural beef gravy from Sprouts.  After assembling the garlic mashed potatoes, I put the pie together, topped with some yogurt curd cheese (lactose free) and put it in the oven until it was boiling.  I've been buying the yogurt curd cheese at Sprouts in their deli section.  It melts really well, tastes good, and doesn't make our stomachs rumble. I love a hearty shepherds pie.

I had bought four mushrooms for Nick to sauté for himself once the pie was in the oven. He just added them on his serving after. 

Shepherd's Pie 

For meat:
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 ears corn, kernels removed
1/2 bag frozen peas
1 packet packaged beef gravy
salt and pepper to taste
Grated cheese (optional) 

For mashed potatoes:
2 Idaho potatoes, boiled
1 head garlic; roasted 2 tbsp butter
1 c whole milk or cream
4 tbsp kosher salt (or to taste)
3 tbsp cracked black pepper (or to taste) 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.   

Set potatoes to boil.   

In separate pot, brown ground beef.  Once browned, add onion and garlic; let soften. Add corn, peas and gravy.  Mix until meat is throughly coated with gravy.   Salt and pepper to taste.  

For mashed potatoes, once potatoes are boiled, add roasted garlic, butter, milk, salt, and pepper while the potatoes are still hot.  Mash until they are the desired consistence.  Add more liquid if needed.

In a oven safe dish, flatten the meat mixture on the bottom.  Layer potatoes on top to fully cover the meat.  Add cheese if desired.  Bake on a foil covered cookie sheet for about 20-30 minutes or until meat is boiling.  (It will bubble.)  Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes.