Shepherd's Pie

While sitting at lunch with a co-worker today, she had shepherd's pie for lunch. I was inspired to try making it myself, since I had never done so before. I had eaten it before, of course, but never made it. 

On my way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items for my pie, when I got home, I started working my magic on it.

First, I started by mixing together some ground pork and ground beef. I spiced it, added some bread crumbs, and mixed it together well, I began to brown it in a pan while I prepared the next layers. I sliced up some mushrooms, cafe and white button mushrooms, and I also chopped up an onion. I strained and microwaved a can of corn and combined it with some leftovers of corn and a touch of fresh salsa that I had mixed together for a meal the day before. Once the meat was cooked, I lined the bottom of a glass pan with it, and I began to cook up the mushrooms and onions. They were the next layer in my pie. I also did not want to waste 45 minutes making potatoes, so I admittedly used instant. I keep these on hand  because they are easy to use, and I buy the kind made from dehydrated potatoes and when I am done making them, they taste delicious. I added fresh chives and dill and some lemon juice to the potatoes, and I added the layer of corn on top of the mushrooms. I then added the thinest layer of cheese and began to spread out the potatoes. After the potatoes came more cheese. 

I baked it in the oven for a bit, mostly to melt the cheese because everything was still hot and was already cooked.

 When it came out, I couldn't wait to try it. I wanted to try to take a picture of the layers for you to see, but it wasn't easy.

I also served it with some sauteed rainbow chard on the side. I had picked this up from the farmer's market, and I had never tried it before.  It turned out very tasty.

While eating, I thought to myself that a great way to make this vegetarian could be to substitute the meat for something like spinach or chard, I think they would taste good together, you could really use any vegetable, or if you like meat, use any meat you like.

I really enjoyed making shepherd's pie, it was so delicious, I only ate it with a touch of sour cream because the flavours were amazing. Previously, I had definitely eaten shepherd's pie with ketchup, but it had never been like this. This is truly my own rendition of it. You can incorporate your favourite foods and flavours into shepherd's pie. Why not make it your own? Try it!

Until next time, Happy Munching.