Shepherd's Pie Gone Awry
I wanted shepherd's pie for dinner, but there were... complications.
I have some rather annoying dietary restrictions. Proper shepherd's pie is made from mutton or lamb, but I don't have that, and I am allergic anyway. Beef would be great, except I am allergic to that, too. So the meat I used is ground turkey, browned in a large skillet.
I diced and sauteed a large onion, and I added some carrots and peas before mixing it all in with the turkey. I planned to use a packet of gravy mix that had no dairy in it, but as I was reading the directions, I discovered it did include traces of beef.
[expletive deleted.]
OK, time to improvise! Water. Chicken broth powder. A bit of corn starch. It'd have to do.
I was also simultaneously mixing some instant mashed potatoes. Earth Balance butter substitute and almond milk work surprisingly well. And I did have to hunt the store shelves a bit to find instant spuds that did not already include dairy, but that was on a previous occasion, so I had the box on hand when this urge to cook struck me.
So, here we are.
2 lb. ground turkey, browned
1 large onion, diced and and sauteed
Approximately 3 cups of vegetables
About a cup and a half of gravy substitute, seasoned experimentally.
Mashed potatoes equal to double the "3-4 servings" instructions on the box (more would have been better)
Mix meat, onions, and veggies. Spread in a deep dish 9x13 pan (mine is stoneware) and pour gravy over the works. Dump mashed potatoes on top, and spread somewhat evenly. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes.
Optional: type blog post while waiting for it to cool.
Now I will post this and go sample the result of this experiment. See the comments section for how it turned out!
I like making Shepherd's Pie when having people over for dinner because it can be prepped ahead of time and then just popped in the oven. Yours looks pretty good, all things considered. Sorry to hear about your allergies, makes simple things complicated at times. All the best!
I am pleased to see your cooking skills are expanding. Glad it turned out so well!
Allergies suck, don't they? My daughter has a sleeping of them! We have had great success using chicken broth in place of the water and milk in the mashed potatoes. If you happen to have homemade chicken stock that is thicker, it's even better, but I've done it with store bought with favorable results.
So, I'm curious what your list of allergens are. With my Wildstyle, it's almost easier to tell you what she can have as opposed to the long list of what she can't!
Short version: No beef, dairy, goat, goat dairy, or sheep. Fowl, fish, and pork are all A-OK. Peanuts are fine. I'm not allergic to gluten, but I should cut my carb consumption.
I am cooking almost every day and I would say that the optics can certainly be improved ;) Taste is hard to judge over the internet but I usually like pies.
I once made a pie not using mashed potatoes but covered it with thinly sliced potato and then put a bit of oil on top. That turned out extremely nice as the top layer of potatoes got nice and crispy and the bottom layer soft and flavoured by the other ingredients. Plus it looks fantastic.
Well, it's not a complete failure! The gravy wasn't thick enough (as I expected) and it could use a bit more salt. Maybe some more garlic and other herbs would improve it. But it's entirely edible and satisfying.
Ground turkey is a stubborn ingredient, and it didn't hold together very well when scooped out of the pan, but that was also to be expected.
Hmm. You must be a good cook @jacotothe. I di not know the recipe for what you have done, the the way you listed the ingredients and how you thoroughly explained the procedure shows that you have been doing this quite some time.
I am marginally competent. You should also check out this other post where everything went better than expected.
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This post is about shepherd's pie, so no spam please.