Post-holiday Tradition

Shepherd’s Pie has become our post-holiday tradition.  Always fearful of not having enough mashed potatoes for holidays, I generally mash up a truckload; of course, that means I end up with half a truckload left over, warring for space in my fridge with sweet potatoes and ham and dressing and salads. I don’t know why I get worried about a possible lack of potatoes, because there are always so many other foods vying for our attention at the typical Thanksgiving spread.  Maybe I'm subconsciously planning for the post-holiday menu.  There are oodles of ways to use leftover mashed potatoes—potato pancakes, pierogies, and potato dumplings, to name a few—but one of our favorites is shepherd’s pie.

This Thanksgiving was no exception.  I had a large bowl—probably six or seven large potatoes’ worth—of mashed potatoes left over.  So I thawed a pound of ground beef from Triple S and a pound of ground lamb from the Moore’s in the refrigerator for a couple of days (I wasn’t sure if these competitors would get along, so I put them on separate shelves in the fridge to be on the safe side).  I chopped a huge onion from Greg at Claybank Farms; if you do this recipe, you may want to do two medium-sized onions instead.  These babies are enormous!  I peeled and coined four or five beautiful Blue Moon carrots and set them to boil a few minutes, and chopped up some fresh thyme, also from Claybank.  So, when I do my simple recipe, ground beef and lamb get mixed together as they’re crumbled up and browned.  In goes the enormous chopped onion for a few minutes, until translucent.  I then add about ¼ cup of unbleached flour to the meat mixture, then stir it up until the flour has absorbed the fat and combined well with the meat.  Then I add a few cups (probably two or three) of vegetable stock, a few shots of Worcestershire sauce, a boatload of fresh thyme (around a tablespoon, but don’t be afraid to put more; less if dried), and bring the whole thing to a boil.  I add my boiled, drained carrots and any additional water or broth to make the mixture the thickness of stew.  I reduce the heat and let it cook a few minutes to make sure it’s all mixed together.  Meanwhile, I add water or milk to my mashed potatoes and microwave them for a couple of minutes to make the mixture more spreadable.  I spray the sides and bottom of two glass casserole dishes.  In goes the stew, then I use a spoon to deliver large “globs” of mashed potatoes onto the top of the stew, spreading it like a very thick crust with the back of the spoon.  I bake these two dishes at 350 for around 30-40 minutes.  Don't be alarmed if the yummy gravy seeps through the potato layer, it's just all part of the fun.  If golden crests don’t magically appear on your potato “crust”, you can finish the shepherd’s pie in the broiler for a few minutes.

After delivering one shepherd’s pie to the table, I let the other cool until I can seal it up with aluminum foil, cool it the rest of the way in the fridge, then stick it in the freezer for another cold winter’s night.  The second one is almost better than the first, as the flavors have had a chance to meld together.  I can’t think of a better way to warm up and shake the post-holiday blues than to have a meat pie with potato-y goodness.  I can’t wait until I make too many mashed potatoes for Christmas!