Simple and delicious Shepherd's Pie recipe

I love making Shepherd’s pie for my family and consider it one of my ultimate comfort foods. It’s easily prepared and a great time saver because it’s a one pot meal. Shepherd’s pie is great for lunch boxes and potlucks, or simply if you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen preparing dinner on a weekday night. I always make sure to have a ground beef in my freezer and canned vegetables in the pantry. So if you have potatoes, your dinner can be easily made in under an hour.
I like this recipe because it’s very flexible: you don’t have to use all of the vegetable, choose the ones you like or have on hand. You can improvise with the sauce, using Marinara, Tomato Sauce, or a ketchup. The cheese is optional as well. Get creative and improvise with this easy and delicious meal, trying a new version every time.

Ingredients

8 medium white potatoes
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp.oil
1 egg (optional)
1 medium chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced or 1/2 frozen diced carrots, thawed (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced
800 gr. lean ground beef
3 tbsp. tomato sauce or ketchup
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 cup corn kernels, canned (if use frozen corn, thawed)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen green peas (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 ºF.

Peel and cut the potatoes. Place in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add salt, set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily mashed with tongs.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and saute just until they begin to golden, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the beef, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through. If you have too much meat juice, drain it before adding the sauce.

Add the Tomato or Marinara sauce, Worcestershire, your favourite meat spices and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for about 5 minutes. You can add your vegetables to the meat and mix them together or add as a layer on top of the meat. I usually spread my vegetables on top of the beef as a separate layer.

Transfer the meat to 7*11 inch baking dish and spread evenly. Spread the corn, carrots and peas on top of the meat. 

When the potatoes are ready, drain the water, leaving 1 cup of the potato water on the side. Add butter and mash the potatoes. When completely mashed, add potato water - about 1/3 cup. Add salt and pepper and continue mashing until smooth. Stir in the yolk (optional) until well combined. The water can be substituted by warm cream or milk - your choice.

Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula or a tablespoon. 

Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes and serve it with a fresh garden or Ceasar salad.