Recipe of the Day: 30-Minute Shepherd’s Pie

Love It: Rachael Ray has another version of this recipe in one of her cookbooks that calls for ground turkey, which is the version I have made before. You have to really know what you’re doing to get one of her recipes done in 30 minutes or less, but they generally make for some tasty home cooking. Nice and comforting one here.

Fear It: I imagine part of the comfort in comfort foods is the food coma all the starch and fat sends you into post-dinner. To keep this reasonable, use reduced-fat versions of the dairy (sure to dismay Rachael) and meat, and take Rachael Ray’s suggestion to sub broth for cream. By the way, while you can use ground turkey for your meat, it won’t save you any calories over 95% lean beef unless you look for the ultra-lean ground turkey breast.

Teach It: This recipe uses a classic strategy of the 30-minute meals genre — do most of the cooking on the stovetop then pop the completed dish in a hot oven for just a few minutes to melt or brown the top.

Eat It: With a tall glass of milk and soft dinner rolls. No salad — too light!

30-Minute Shepherd’s Pie
Source: Rachael Ray
Yield: 4 generous servings

• 2 lbs. potatoes, such as russet, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons sour cream or softened cream cheese
• 1 large egg yolk
• ½ cup cream, for a lighter version substitute vegetable or chicken broth
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1 ¾ lbs. ground beef or ground lamb
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup beef stock or broth
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire, eyeball it
• ½ cup frozen peas, a couple of handfuls
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Combine sour cream, egg yolk and cream. Add the cream mixture into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth.

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with beef or lamb. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. If you are using lamb and the pan is fatty, spoon away some of the drippings. Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently. In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables. Stir in peas.

Preheat broiler to high. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with paprika and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned. Top casserole dish with chopped parsley and serve.

Download 30-Minute Shepherd’s Pie into MacGourmet.