Hope's Shepherd's Pie - Or the One Dish Wonder

As time goes by I find myself looking back to my comfort foods and the ease in which they are prepared. There is no culinary magic, just solid easy to prepare yummy (don't you love the technical terms?) food.

This simple dish is one that I had as a child and have adapted it more to my liking by changing out a few things.

What you will need:

1 pound of ground round
1/2 "Tube" Jimmy Dean Sausage
6 medium potatoes
1 stick of butter
milk
salt and pepper
1 can of sweet corn (NOT CREAMED CORN)

Preheat oven to 350
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The neat thing about this dish is it comes together relatively quick.
Peel and coarsely chop the potatoes
Put the potatoes on to boil
While the potatoes boil - get out your trusty cast iron skillet ( once again if you don't have one of these in your collection of pots... GET ONE Lodge makes great ones that are inexpensive.
Mix the ground and the sausage together with your hands... and I mean WELL - you want to make sure that the sausage is evenly distributed throughout the ground beef, so squeeze it and mash it! Place the meat mix in the skillet and press evenly until the whole bottom of the skillet is encompassed so it looks like a GIANT HAMBURGER.

Now pop the meat into the oven and let cook until well done - usually about 20 - 30 minutes... you can generally tell when the shrinkage is obvious. Drain off the grease and pop it back into the oven while you prepare the mashed potatoes.

Simply drain the potatoes, add 3/4 stick of butter, salt, pepper, and mash.... adding a little milk to the potatoes to make them malleable...actually I kind of like mine with a few lumps... lets people know they are "real mashed" not instant ( I know it's stupid... but what can I say?)

Pull the cast iron skillet out of the oven ... and build a ring around the top of the meat - leaving the center clear of potatoes.... ( just a note here... don't put the potatoes on the cast iron... put them on TOP of the meat - looks a bit like a flat volcano)

Now open the can of sweet corn and dump it into the middle of the ring of potatoes dash the whole shebang with a bit of salt and ground pepper and top it off with the remaining butter cut into small chunks.

Place the skillet back into the oven for about 10 minutes.... pull it out and cut into pie wedges and serve.... YUM !

The reason I don't put extra onion or bell pepper or massive seasonings is the sausage gives it a delightful taste... and kids old and young will eat it... even your finicky eaters ! That is also the reason I use corn and not the mixed veggies... kids will eat it!
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I hope you will try it ... let me know if you like it....

Maybe next time... we just make iced tea.