Recipe #6: Shepherd's Pie, with a Twist

I have no grand illusions.  I know that my mother makes the best shepherd's pie in the world. The kind of shepherd's pie that when you eat it, you know you've come home and everything is going to be okay. To me, shepherd's pie was comfort food before I knew what comfort food was - tied with homemade macaroni and cheese that oozes excessive cheesiness. I don't even know the recipe for my mom's shepherd's pie which I am sure is the same recipe that her mom used - some day I'll ask for it. But if I ask her for the recipe, does that mean that I can't ask her to make it for me when I come home? I'd rather not tempt fate.

With this in mind, I did set out to make the second best shepherd's pie in the world. In my beautiful new casserole dish from my parents. I recently made a beautiful Beef in Pomegranate Juice (http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2008/01/beef-in-pomegranate-sauce.html) that was divine and made cups of delicious pomegranate beef gravy that I could not begin to even think about throwing out. But what does one do with beef gravy? Google it. And google suggests - make shepherd's pie!

To start, I tossed a bag of mini potatoes in boiling water. As the potatoes were boiling, I cooked up a package of lean ground beef until it was well cooked and added the sweet pomegranate gravy that I had defrosted. Set aside. I sprayed the brand new casserole dish that I got for Christmas contemplated vegetables while the potatoes were still boiling. I had a bundle of asparagus that I cooked in the microwave on a plate, but was missing something so I grabbed a package of Green Giant brussel sprouts from the freezer and cooked them up.

I layered the pomegranate ground beef on the bottom, asparagus pieces and brussel sprout halves in the middle with mashed potatoes (and a little bit of butter) on top. Might have topped the whole things off with some shredded white old cheddar... Bake at 375F for about half an hour or until it smells like goodness when you open the oven/gravy is bubbling up from the bottom layer. Perfection.

These flavour combinations will definitely be making an appearance in my casserole dish in the future!

Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Sincerely  xoxo