Shepherd's Pie

EDIT 15 Nov, 2015: I think I found a version that the family likes better. Just little things can make a big difference it seems. I tried pork instead of beef, omitted the garlic, celery, and carrots, and substituted regular frozen corn and frozen peas. A bit of beef broth keeps it moist, and maybe a tad less Worcestershire. I added this as version #2 below.

Shepherd's Pie - version 2

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This is probably one of my all-time fav dishes, probably top 3 ever. When you look up "comfort food" in the dictionary, there's a picture of Shepherd's Pie.  There are as many variations as there are people who make this I think. My fav is close to "traditional", except I don't use lamb. This is also one of those dishes that is almost better the next day. Yea, hot lunches for work!

Beef, carrot, onion, & celery mixture.

The one big difference is cream style corn. That is the secret ingredient. Gives it a nice creamy texture, and prevents the dish from being too dry. I'm not one for gravy or stock in the beef layer, and I don't like the potatoes to be too smooth. Normally cheese on anything is awesome, but I don't like cheese in or on this. In my opinion it ruins the rustic and simple nature of the dish So a straight-forward ground-beef layer, a moist corn layer, and a rough-mashed potato layer. Perfect.


Next Time: sometimes SO likes peas mixed in the middle, but I prefer not.

Me: 10/10
SO: 8/10  update: version #2 is 10/10
SSO: 7/10 (with cheese on the side and little to no middle layer)

Almost Vegan Black Bean Soup

Another great supper made by SO, who had a craving for black beans lately. Delicious, not too thin, warming on a cool night. The almost vegan part is because of the late addition of crushed Doritos for some crunch and a blob of sour cream. You'd have to pick vegetable broth over chicken broth obviously. That is about as close to a vegan dish as you'll find on this blog, except for salads I suppose. And salsas. And granola bars. Never mind.

(almost vegan) Black Bean Soup

I would normally not crunch up Doritos in a soup, but we had dozens of those little tiny 16g bags left over from Halloween. Hate to waste. Other then that, I think the fresh cilantro and a bit of hot sauce made the dish.

Next Time: a different ingredient for the crunch

Me: 9/10
SO: 10/10
SSO: n/a