Gouda Cheesy Shepherds Pie

• Meat

  • 2 lbs Ground beef or ground lamb ** see notes

• Produce

  • 2 Carrots
  • 2 stalks Celery
  • 1 Cheesy mashed potatoes
  • 1 cups Corn
  • 3 cloves Garlic
  • 1 Onion, small small
  • 1 cups Peas

• Canned Goods

  • 2/3 cup Beef stock
  • 2 tbsp Tomato paste

• Condiments

  • 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 tbsp Flour
  • 1 Salt and pepper

• Oils & Vinegars

  • 1 tbsp Olive oil

• Dairy

  • 1 tbsp Butter

Found on westviamidwest.com

Description

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 small onion, small diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery,
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 1 tablespoon flour (optional)
• 2 pounds Ground Beef or Ground Lamb ** see notes
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• ⅔ cup Beef Stock
• 1 cups Peas
• 1 cups Corn
• Cheesy Mashed Potatoes (recipe below) ** Make potatoes first!
• 4 pounds peeled Yukon gold potatoes, cut into quarters
• 4 tablespoons Butter
• ¼ cup ½ and ½ or heavy cream
• 1.5 cups Gouda Cheese, grated
• a dash of ground nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Preheat Oven to 400°
• In a large skillet melt butter and olive oil on medium heat. Once melted, add onions, carrots, celery and garlic and saute until tender, but not mushy. (they will continue to cook in the oven when baking, so you want them to be al dente... almost completely cooked, but not mushy.) About 7-8 minutes.
• Add the tomato paste and the flour and mix well. (the flour acts as a thickener for the broth so its not runny when finished cooking. However, this is totally optional.)
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add ground beef and cook completely until there is no pink left. While cooking use a spoon to break the meat down into the smallest of pieces. (about 10 minutes)
• Once the beef is browned, add the worcestershire sauce and the beef broth and cook for another 10 minutes.
• Check seasoning at this point and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add peas and corn and mix well.
• Using an oven proof backing dish for the next cooking, place the beef mixture evenly across the bottom of the pan. I use an 9X13 glass dish, but Ive split into smaller pans as well.
• Place a thin layer of potatoes over the top of the meat mixture using a spatula. This layer acts as a coating so you dont have to worry about a little meat, carrot or anything being in it. Once it is spread over the top, then come back and put the rest of the potatoes evenly over the top. (You can use a piping bag if you want something fancy but a spatula works just as well!)
• Make sure the potatoes are completely covering the meat mixture and there are no open spaces against the baking dish. While it will still be very tasty, if you have an open space, the meat juices will seep out while baking.
• You can run a fork across the top to get crevices that will get crunchy in baking.
• Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes or so or until golden brown.
• See Notes for Freezer info!
• Add potatoes to a stock pot and cover with water.
• Bring to a boil and let cook for 20 minutes until tender.
• Once cooked, drain potatoes and either mash them in the pot or run them through a potato ricer and place them back into the pot.
• Add butter, cream, nutmeg and mix well (smooth constancy.)
• Add the cheese and mix well.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.