July 17, 2010 - cottage pie

July 17, 2010 - cottage pie (2), originally uploaded by Jesmy.

This is one of my absolute favorite things to make. This time, I boiled my potatoes whole (peels on - about 6-7 medium potatoes), then let them cool and was able to peel the skins right off. Then I smashed the potato up a bit with some butter, salt, pepper, about 1/2 of soy milk, 2 tbsp. chive cream cheese, and 1/2 cup French onion dip. (the simple onion soup mix blended with sour cream.) This left the potato in some larger chunks, which I like with the pie.

Then I browned the ground beef (1 lb.) in the same pot I had boiled the potatoes in. I tossed in some Mrs. Dash traditional blend and rosemary along with the usual salt and pepper. I'm not cooking at home, so I didn't have the normal spices I would have normally used like dried minced onion and garlic powder, but the Mrs. Dash worked well and the onion flavor was brought in from the dip in the potatoes.

I added about 2 cups of frozen peas and about a pound of roughly chopped fresh carrots. I ended up with a lot more veg than meat, which is what I was aiming for. I did not make a gravy, instead, I just added about a cup of water to help steam the carrots and cooked the filling for a bit to mix all the flavors.

Then I tossed the filling into a round casserole dish that I sprayed with some cooking spray and topped it with the potato. I baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes. Just enough for the top to get a little golden.

It made enough for about 7 or 8 meals. I'm still working on it now and it reheats very well. I've been eating it with a dollop of the French onion on top. Yum!