Sunday, 21 September 2008
American Cooking in France: Shepherd's Pie
Shepherd's pie is a big winner in my book because it's a complete meal in itself and you can make a lot of it at once—it's actually better as leftovers (the flavours have more time to blend). It also uses lots of Worcestershire sauce, something that French cooking, for all its many qualities, is sorely lacking. So having a good shepherd's pie from time to time is a great way to assert your Anglo-Saxon heritage as well :-)
Ingredients
- 400g ground beef
- 1-2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
- 3 cups instant mashed potatoes (= 1 sachet 4 personnes)
- 1 cup grated emmental
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1 tsp black pepper
- Paprika
Preparation
Brown beef, drain. Add liberal amounts of oregano, black pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in vegetables (still frozen) and half of the emmental. Set aside. Prepare mashed potatoes according to package instructions, and mix in remaining emmental. Preheat oven to 200° C. In a baking pan, pour in meat and vegetable mixture, then top with mashed potato mixture. Sprinkle papirka on top for colour. Cook for 25 minutes.
The original recipe I used back home used Cambell's cheddar cheese soup, where you mixed in half the can in with the beef, and half with the potatoes. That really made the potatoes a lot better with this dish, but I haven't found a good substitute for it in France. Still, the recipe as given is pretty good too.
