CwM: Shepherd's Pie

 

Leftovers are my comfort foods!  After Thanksgiving, there are only so many turkey sandwiches you can eat.  Having something other than the standard Turkey Tetrazini (turkey, cooked pasta, a can of cream of mushroom soup, frozen peas) is a nice thing.  

In the video, I start with putting the diced potatoes into a pot of water to boil.  We will work on the innards while these cook.  

To cook the inside of the pie, you'll prepare the veggies: I start with butter and olive oil heated in a large pot.  Add diced onions and celery, then diced carrots.   Those take a little longer to cook, so you need to put them in first.  Then add the veggies that take less long to cook: broccoli, frozen peas, mushrooms and whatever other veggies you'd like. You'll want at least 2 C of veggies.  Then sprinkle some flour over the top, making sure that you have enough oil/moisture in the pot.  Stir so all the veggies are covered in the flour.  Add the spices generously; I like adding salt, pepper, and thyme.  Be generous!  Then add the diced leftover turkey or chicken (amount is your preference -- if there are meat=eaters in the house, I'll add up to 4 C of chicken; if it's just Paul and me, then I add only a couple cups of chicken.  Add milk slowly, stirring until the gravy forms.  I have also added an envelope of brown gravy mix for added flavor.  You can also add turkey or chicken broth.  Stir until you get the gravy texture you'd like and add/stir until you have the amount of gravy you'd like.  Pour all these veggies, chicken and gravy into an oven-safe casserole dish.  

Now return to the potatoes that have been boiling on the stove. Make sure they are soft enough to whip with an electric beater -- test by poking with a fork.  Then drain the potatoes, leaving a little liquid behind.  Then whip with the beater until smooth.  I usually add some milk here to make them really soft and spreadable. I also like adding some butter, salt and pepper.  When these are whipped, spread these mashed/whipped potatoes over the top of the veggie/chicken mixture in the casserole dish.  For extra crunch, I added some uncooked stuffing mix to the top of the potatoes 

Bake at 300 or so for about 20 minutes until all is hot.  

There are times I add some powdered adobo seasoning and powdered green chile when the thyme is added.  The milk and butter takes away the painful spicy bang, but leaves the flavor of the green chile.