Saturday, January 22, 2011

A Rocking Shepherd's Pie



Have I mentioned that my new favorite


cooking show is Bitchin' Kitchen?



Nadia G. (warning: the videos will play automatically


- but do check out the Furious Food Song )


is funny and a great cook.




And this recipe from her is another winner.









Warm, comforting and easy to make.







I halved the recipe and made some substitutions.


What else is new?





My ingredients are:


ground beef


green onion


butter


onion


Yukon gold potatoes


sweet potato


ground cayenne pepper


sweet paprika


dried parsley


kosher salt


black pepper


frozen corn


half and half


potato chips










Right off the bat it is apparent that I can't follow


directions as I plopped the ground beef in the pan first,


rather than sauteing the onion in olive oil first.





Oh well.





I added about 1/2 cup onion,


a pinch of dried parsley,


a pinch paprika,


a pinch cayenne,


a pinch salt


and a few grinds of black pepper


to the mix.





I allowed this to saute for about 10 minutes as directed.





Then this went into a 7" x 11" baking dish.


I pressed the meat mixture down firmly.





Next I worked on the creamed corn.




I put in about 1-1/2 cups frozen corn into a baking dish.


I then added a splash of half and half, one chopped green onion


and a tablespoon unsalted butter before microwaving,


covered, on high for about 4-1/2 minutes.
After uncovering the dish, it was then


microwaved for another minute.





Then it went into the processor for a quick whizz.







This was the next layer to go down.








Meanwhile and apparently un-photographed,


I peeled the potatoes and sweet potato before chopping


them into about 1-inch chunks.




I then put them in a microwave-safe container,


added a bit of water and some salt and put them


in the microwave on high for about 15 minutes


until they were tender.




They were then mashed with a tablespoon of butter,


a splash of half and half,


a pinch of salt


and a few grinds of black pepper.




The potatoes were carefully spread on top.





And finally some potato chips were crushed and sprinkled


over the top along with another pinch of paprika.









This then goes under the broiler for a few minutes


until the edges are browned.




Confession time:


in the nearly 13 years we've lived here,


I've never used the oven broiler before.




So I let the top burn a bit.


Plus, I had other things on my mind


- like broken furnaces.




But it was still good.




Three out of four decided this recipe is a keeper


(the fourth being the one who prefers his soup out of a can).








This was a warm, comforting meal


for a cold winter's night


when one's furnace unexpectedly goes out.

Bad furnace.




Great recipe.



Bad, bad furnace.

Curious kitty.

Wonderful heating guy.

He brought by some small heaters today

and took out the old blower so they can put a

new one in bright and early Monday morning.

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