Shepherd’s Pie is always a hit around here; my children love those meat-and-potatoes comfort dinners — and it’s a GREAT way to feed them lots of hidden veggies! This Shepherd’s Pie has some reduced-fat cheddar cheese in the potato topping to liven it up a little. (Lower-fat cheese adds a little protein too!)
So, this Shepherd’s Pie seems like it has a lot of steps, but you can work on the filling as the potatoes boil. It took me over an hour to make this, but most of that hour was standing-around-waiting time. There’s not a ton of actual hands-on work. I was able to prep the filling while the potatoes cooked. I did the dishes while waiting for the Shepherd’s Pie to bake in the oven.
It is important to have the peas and onions THAWED before putting into the pie filling! Pearl onions aren’t a must; I just had pearl onions that I needed to use. Any type of onion would work fine. If I were using a fresh onion, I’d dice it up and cook it with the carrots.
Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
Mashed Potatoes
- 2 russet potatoes (peeled and chopped into 1" cubes)
- 1 ounce reduced-fat cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon soft tub margarine
- ½ cup skim milk
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 pinch salt
Filling
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 3 carrots (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1 pound 96% lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup low sodium beef broth
- 1 cup frozen pearl onions (thawed)
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup frozen peas (thawed)
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 °F. Lightly spray a pie dish with nonstick spray.
- Wash, peel and chop the potatoes. Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan and fill the saucepan with just enough water to cover the potatoes.
- Put the lid on the saucepan and bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. When the water boils, remove the lid and let the potatoes boil for about 20 minutes, until easily pierced with a fork.
- Drain the potatoes and return them to the saucepan along with 1 ounce of cheddar cheese and 1 tablespoon of margarine. Mash it all together with a potato masher.
- Add ½ cup milk, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, while you're waiting for the potatoes to boil, start making the filling by heating 1 teaspoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat.
- Add the carrot to the hot pan and cook about 3 to 5 minutes, until the carrot is soft.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
- Add the ground beef and cook, stirring frequently, until the beef is no longer pink at all.
- Sprinkle the beef with 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour and cook for 1 minute more.
- Stir in the tomato paste
- Stir in the beef broth, the thawed pearl onions, dried rosemary, dried thyme, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Bring the mixture to a boil. When the mixture boils, turn the heat down to "medium-low" and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Stir the thawed peas into the filling.
- Spoon the filling into the prepared pie dish and spread it around in an even layer.
- Spoon the potatoes on top of the filling and use the back of a spoon or a spatula to spread the potatoes in an even layer.
- Put the pie dish in the oven and bake at 400 °F for about 25 minutes, until the potatoes are slightly browned on top.
