Quick Shepherd's Pie

We are not "Preppers" by any means but I keep can foods around since we can be in the path of a Hurricane during any Hurricane season. Lately dining out of the freezer to turn over groceries has been a daily affair. One of the canned meats I keep is canned Roast Beef. Well time to turn over the stock so I made a quick Shepherd's Pie.

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The Big 3 in a good Shepherd's Pie is Beef, Peas & Carrots, and Mashed Potatoes.

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Here 1 can of Roast Beef was plenty. I coarse chopped the Beef to be sure it spread out and mixed well. A tip making the Instant Mashed Potatoes the recipe on the box is just a little loose for what you need so make them stiffer than the ratios on the box.

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I had Sweet Onions so I used a whole medium sized one. Diced a bit then sautéed till browned a bit before adding in the beef.

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Once I added the Beef I cooked it to brown the edges searing a little extra flavor into the canned meat.

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Adding 1/2 the bag of frozen Peas & Carrots cooking the mixture till heated thru then adding the seasonings.

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While adding the seasonings I added 1 heaping teaspoon of AP Flour to the mixture cooking away the raw flour taste making a bit of a roux before adding the 1/2 cup of Beef Stock.

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The Beef Stock is just 1/2 cup of water I microwaved to heat the water then added a teaspoon sized heavy scoop of the Tones Beef Stock in the first picture. Stirring till the beef stock was blended well then using the beef stock to deglaze the skillet creating a flavorful gravy.

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Following the directions on the box of Instant Mashed Potatoes they were prepared and allowed to sit to stiffen.

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Assembly was spooning the Beef mixture into the baking dish first smoothing it out before adding all the Mashed Potatoes on top. I made the 4 servings of potatoes. I had to try and dress it up a bit so after adding some Parsley Flakes I textured the top of the potatoes with a large Salad Fork.

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Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees here the gravy is bubbling out around the edge of the potatoes.

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I had to top with Shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese then back in the oven for 5 minutes.

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Let it rest for at least 10-15 minutes before dipping into it so it tightens up.

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This can be done fairly quickly I took a side shot so you can see the layers. Once we dug in I realized stiffer potatoes was needed although this was wonderful, we Crushed it!

Yummy.

Looks good.

I made another run at the Shepherd's Pie today. Today using ground beef and ground pork, just a touch of my Cherry wine in the gravy, and stiffer mashed potatoes.

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Seasoning with a no-salt Cajun blend, Thyme, Rosemary, coarse ground Black Pepper, Tone's Beef Stock, Worchester sauce, Salt, and Parsley really topped the last one.

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The last one had Peas & Carrots from Rouse's Grocery, $3.83 a bag. This time I used 98c a bag Peas & Carrots from Walmart and they were far superior the the other stores offering. I used the remaining beef & pork fat from browning the meats to cook the onions first then the peas & carrots and finally making a roux with what was left for the gravy. Much better than the butter used in the previous batch. 2 bowls and I'm stuffed.

This is another Jethro Batch Baklava recipe in flux. I will be adding another cup of Walnuts and a cup of Pistachios to the recipe for the next batch till I work the recipe up to where I want it to go.

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I ran 6 sheets of Phyllo Dough in every layer, added double the amount of Bon Temps' Honey, doubled the fresh Lemon juice, but kept the same amount of water. The Syrup viscosity and volume is important as you want it to soak in but not be wet draining to the bottom of the pan. This one came out great.

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Crunchy, chewy goodness in each bite.

Both look delicious but that baklava looks amazing! Yum