A Story of Grandma and the Disappearing Shepard’s Pie!

In the tradition of sharing my favorite recipes, here is one of my favorite comfy foods for a ‘gloomy’ cool day. My grandmother used to make a version of this recipe. She was a gourmet, a perfectionist in her cooking. Through the years I have taken her love for food and cooking and simplified many of her recipes.I am not lazy in the kitchen, I just don’t always have the time that she did when preparing meals. Yet I don’t want to deny my family the great tastes that I would not know today had it not been for my grandma. She was a wonderful French woman with a spice for life. Grandma was not always the most patient person, one reason my french really doesn’t expand past the vowels, but she was a loving woman. She loved to cook and please people through their palates. I guess today, many might describe me very similarly. There are many of her recipes that I have ‘condensed’ for the sake of time and surely every once in awhile she looks down from above and shakes her head, but the flavors are still there and the recipes fit into my schedule. I hope that you enjoy this disappearing recipe as much we do.

Disappearing Shepard’s Pie

Ingredients

1 lb lean hamburger

2 cans cream of chicken soup

(or 1 each of cream of chicken and cream of mushroom)

1 small diced onion

2 cans green beans

6 medium-large Russet potatoes

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

2/3  cup milk

salt and pepper to taste (taters)

season all, garlic powder & pepper (meat)

Directions

preheat oven to 350

Wash, peel and quarter potatoes. Add to a 4 qt sauce pan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer till fork tender. Drain. Heat milk and butter till warm in microwave and gradually add to potatoes while mashing with a hand masher. Mash until creamy and smooth. (may need more milk) Stir in Salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Brown hamburger in skillet and season with season all, garlic powder and pepper. Add onion when hamburger is half cooked. Stir in cream of soup(s) until well blended.

Pour meat mixture into a 9″x13″ glass baking dish. Add green beans on top of meat layer and top with mashed potatoes.

Bake 30 minutes or until bubbly.

*sometimes just before the Shepard’s pie is done I will add about a half a cup of cheddar cheese to the top and continue cooking another 10 minutes.

**extra yummy tip: once you have top the dish with the mashed potatoes randomly add four to six pats of butter.