Shepherd's Pie

What do you cook when you don't have much in the house except leftover turkey, or a random pound of ground meat from the freezer? Here's something really, really good that you can make with a pound of lean ground beef, turkey or chicken, or even a mound of leftover turkey.

Quick savory pie crust (makes 1 crust):

1 cup flour
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 and 1/2 tbsp water
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt

Mix together in a bowl with a fork and press into a pie pan. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven.

Shepherd's Pie filling:

1 cup carrots, minced
1 cup celery, minced
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef, turkey or chicken (or 1 pound turkey slices, chopped)
1 tbsp flour
1 cup vegetable stock
3 baking potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed with salt, pepper and granulated garlic

First, put your potatoes up to boil.

Then, in a large deep bottomed saute pan, combine the carrots, celery, onions and garlic and cook until with olive oil until softened and lightly browned, about ten minutes. Add the beef or turkey, and make sure each piece is reasonably bite sized. If you are using ground meat, make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked.

Now, push the veggies and meat over to reveal a corner of the pan, where you will make a very simple roux. Place your flour in that empty corner and combine with a small amount (approximately 1 or 2 tbsp) of the vegetable stock. Mix thoroughly, until the mixture thickens and starts to boil. Then add the rest of the stock and mix together with the meat and veggie mixture. Turn heat to low and cover.

Remove the potatoes from the water and mash as for mashed potatoes. For additional creaminess, you can also add 2 tbsp of almond milk or MimicCreme, but generally, I just use salt, pepper and granulated garlic.

Now, pour the meat mixture into the pie shell, and then spread the potatoes over the mixture, so that no meat showed through. Finally, bake in a 350 degree oven for half and hour, until the potatoes are crisp on top. Enjoy hot!