Everybody Loves An Irish Girl...And Shepherd's Pie.

So I'm sitting in my room staring at Roscoe

A typical Tuesday...

 when suddenly a horrible thought comes to mind: "MY POTATOES!"

See, a couple of weeks prior I bought potatoes because potatoes are delicious. After busy weeks and two weekends away I still had not used my potatoes. It was a "now or never" situation and since I HATE throwing away food, the time to use my potatoes was now. I frantically peeled and cubed my potatoes with no clue what I was going to do with them when I thought about the veggies and ground beef in my freezer. Shepherd's Pie it is!

This was without a doubt the least organized cooking I've ever done. I usually prep all my foods beforehand, the French system "mise-en-place" meaning "everything in its place" but this time nothing was in its place. Also, I'm usually able to wash dishes as I dirty them, preventing a giant pile of dirty dishes when I'm done cooking, but on this day I was not so fortunate. It was totally worth it though...even though it was like 85 degrees in Chicago I was so happy to have my warm winter comfort food.

Ingredients

Potatoes:

2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 tbsp butter

1/2 cup milk

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 cup green onion, chopped

Meat:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup frozen carrots, thawed

1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

Gravy:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup beef stock (broth would work too)

Worcestershire Sauce

Paprika, to garnish
Fresh or dried parsley, to garnish

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Boil potatoes until a fork goes in easily when you lightly poke. Drain potatoes, put back in the hot pot, and set aside.

 Add olive oil to preheated pan, add ground beef once oil starts to "ripple"

When beef is mostly cooked through, add onions, garlic, and carrots.

While the meat and veggies are cooking, melt 2 tbsp of butter in a pan and add 2 tbsp of flour to make a roux. Let it cook for a couple of minutes to get the pasty taste out of the flour.

Keep an eye on your meat! Slowly add the beef stock and whisk until smooth. Mix in a couple shakes of Worcestershire sauce. Pour gravy into your meat and veggie mixture.

Prepare mashed potatoes to your liking. I mash mine with butter and milk until smooth and then mix in cheddar and green onions

 Put meat/veggie/gravy mixture into a casserole. Pile mashed potatoes on top. Stop halfway through to admire your handiwork.

She's ready for the oven!

Bonus potatoes for the chef!

 Bake at 400 degrees until top is lightly browned and sides are deliciously bubbly. Garnish with Parsley and Paprika.

Let it sit for a few minutes before you go in for the kill, otherwise you'll end up with a runny mess!

**If you you want the top to brown more, you can put it under the broiler. I baked mine because I used a Corningware casserole and Corningware is not safe to use under a broiler, nor is Pyrex.**