I've always enjoyed a shepherd's pie, the flavorful mix of vegetables, mashed potatoes, and ground beef topped with cheese. I had an idea from the place I work, since they feed mostly slop to their employees... whatever happens to be left over. This basically equates to a beef and vegetable stew without the potatoes in it, but served atop a pile of creamy mashed potatoes with the skins left on. Since it's not quite a shepherd's pie, I've named it Farmer's Pie since you could probably find most of the ingredients in a typical well stocked garden. I used a slow cooker for the stew, but you could easily use a large pot on the stove. This recipe started as a pure experiment, but turned out quite good. It makes a ton, so be prepared for a lot of leftovers, or to share it with friends. Enjoy.
What you'll need:
2 Pounds ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups frozen sweet corn
2 cups frozen sweet peas
1 cup carrots, diced
4 cups shredded cabbage
2 Tablespoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1 bay leaf
4 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1 28 ounce can tomato sauce
For the potatoes:
You can use boxed instant mashed potatoes if you want, just follow the directions on the box. For me though, I like the taste of fresh mashed potatoes, and I leave the skins on!
4 pounds potatoes
1/4 pound butter
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
Brown the ground beef with the onion. Drain off excess fat and return to the pan. Add flour and coat the onion and beef, cook for an additional 2 minutes stirring frequently, it will be a thick sticky mess.
Add to slow cooker the beef, onion, and flour mix, beef broth, water, tomato sauce, corn, peas, carrots, cabbage, pepper, parsley, basil, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, thyme, and bay leaf. Turn the cooker on high to heat.
The stew will stay in the slow cooker for 6-8 hours. It's done when it's nice and bubbly and the vegetables are tender. I prepared mine just before bed and left it on overnight on high.
Mashed potatoes are easy. Cube your potatoes and boil in water until they're tender. Stick them with a fork to test for tenderness; you're basically looking for the cube to split in half when you stick it with a fork. Don't overcook them. When your potatoes are tender, drain them and add the butter, salt and milk. Then either use an electric mixer or a hand-masher to mix everything together to get a nice creamy pile of mashed potatoes.
Add some stew to the top of a pile of potatoes and top with some shredded cheese if you like!
