Busting Out the Winter Guns

All of this rainy cold weather is forcing me to bust out some hearty winter recipes. Rather than being outdoors grilling up some kabobs and burgers, I was tucked inside my kitchen blasting my oven conjuring up some Shepherds Pie. Growing up, Shepherds Pie was one of my dad's "go to" meals he fed to my brother and I when my mom didn't have time to prepare dinner. Due to his bland taste buds (he hates garlic!!!) his Shepherds Pie consisted of a layer of ground beef and onion, layer of canned creamed corn, topped off with some mashed potatoes. His seasonings simple: salt and pepper.
Out of nostalgia I still find comfort in this dish (my brother still refuses to touch it), but to make my own I would definitely stray from my Dad's recipe. Borrowing from an earlier Crow post, "Not Your Momma's Casserole" I have dubbed my creation "Not My Daddy's Shepherds Pie".


Not My Daddy's Shepherds Pie
1 lb ground beef (available at Harvest, JP)
1/4 onion, chopped
5 to 10 mushrooms, chopped
large bunch chard, chopped
stove top creamed corn (recipe below)
3 large yukon gold potatoes
1 large sweet potato
fresh parsley
1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
butter, cream and stock (optional)
1/2 a beer (whatever the chef happens to be enjoying at the time)
olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

• Stove Top Creamed Corn: Pour a packet of frozen corn kernels into a sauce pan, add a mixture of cream and vegetable stock* to cover the corn half way, a couple dollops of butter and some salt and pepper. Simmer this mixture for 20-30 minutes, near the end start breaking up the corn kernels with the back of a spoon.
• Peel potatoes, cut into chunks and bring to a simmer in salted water. Once fork tender mash together with desired amount of butter, cream or stock, salt pepper and fresh chopped parsley.
• Saute onions and mushrooms in a large pan, once onions are translucent add beef and break up into small chunks. When beef is almost cooked through add half a beer and let simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Saute garlic in a saucepan with some olive oil, add chard, salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes, simmer until just wilted.
• Coat a casserole dish with olive oil spray, add beef mixture, then creamed corn, chard, and top off with mashed potatoes
• Bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes, then let rest 10-15 minutes before digging in.

* If you want to cut back on using cream or milk, substitute with vegetable stock or use a mixture of the two.

Hopefully I won't have to bust this meal out until October but who knows with New England Weather.