Viola’s Sheppards Pie

While making supper Friday I snapped some pictures with my iPhone.  I thought I would share with you this version of my mom’s shepherds pie 🙂 Traditionally the topping is mashed potatoes but to mix things up a bit my mom decided to slice thin potatoes and just cook them that way with butter and salt and pepper.

First off cook 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef with salt and pepper to taste with 1 clove of garlic (or 2 if you really like garlic) finely minced.

I got so caught up in my potatoes I forgot to get a shot of the corn! I know corn is so exciting lol.

 

Take a can of cream corn and layer that on top of your ground beef along with two cans of regular corn and spread that layer even as well. This brings a lot of moisture to the dish as well as flavor. Who doesn’t like corn right?

Next take 4 potatoes or so (mine are puny so I have a few more) and roughly peel them. Now slice them into thin slices. This is where I break out my mandoline to make short work of this process 🙂

Layer your finely sliced potatoes on top of the corn layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper and a drizzle of EVOO

Hmm because I’m french I need to add butter right here!

and cheese…..(flakes of Parmigiano-Reggiano)

Ok into a 425 Degree oven it goes for 40-45 minutes till the potatoes are tender.

Voila:

I served this with a nice light herb salad with fresh tomatoes

Bon Appetite! This is so easy to make and delicious I hope you guys try it out 🙂

• Servings: 6-8
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 cloves of garlic minced.
• 1 can of cream corn
• 2 cans of regular corn
• 4 medium size potatoes
• 1 tbsp of EVOO
• 4 tablespoons of butter cut up in pieces
• 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large skillet brown your ground beef with salt and pepper to taste, along with your garlic. Layer this into a 9X12 pan.  Layer the cream corn next then the 2 cans of regular corn.

Roughly peel your potatoes and slice thinly.  Layer this on top of the corn add your salt, pepper, EVOO, butter and cheese.

Place in oven for 40-45 min (till potatoes are fork tender) Let cool for 10 min and enjoy!

 

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Super simple easy soup

Ingredients:

• 2 butternut squash
• 3 medium cooking onions
• 2 apples(if you like a bit more sweetness to shine through)
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp of fresh rosemary chopped fine
• 1 tbsp of fresh thyme
• 1 tsp of red chile pepper flakes
• 8 cups of chicken stock

Directions:

Turn your oven onto 425 degree Fahrenheit

Chop up your onions, butternut squash and apples in medium size pieces. This will make a lot! I divided it between two half sheet pans.  Then season to taste with salt and pepper. Add your knobs of butter and drizzle with olive oil.

After 20 minutes in oven, stir up veggies so they caramelize on all sides. Once fork tender remove from oven. Total cooking time approximately 40 minutes.

Let your veggies cool off then in batches puree them with some chicken stock and place in soup pot:

Once all the vegetables are pureed add the rest of your chicken stock to your soup pot and stir.  Let simmer on medium low heat. Taste your soup to see if you need to season it more. At this point you will also add your fresh herbs and my favorite ingredient to give the soup a bit of a kick.

 

At the very end of the cooking process I add a bit of half and half maybe 1/2 cup and use an immersion blender to get the soup silky smooth.

I serve this with croutons in the soup and fresh grated parmesan cheese on top! Enjoy! (I also saved the seeds and roasted them for a garnish)

 

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

• Servings: 10-12
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 2 butternut squash
• 3 medium cooking onions
• 2 apples(if you like a bit more sweetness to shine through)
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp of fresh rosemary chopped fine
• 1 tbsp of fresh thyme
• 1 tsp of red chile pepper flakes
• 8 cups of chicken stock
• 1/2 cup half and half

Directions:

Turn your oven onto 425 degree Fahrenheit

Chop up your onions, butternut squash and apples in medium size pieces. This will make a lot! I divided it between two half sheet pans.  Then season to taste with salt and pepper. Add your knobs of butter and drizzle with olive oil. Place your sheet pans in the oven.

After 15 minutes in oven, stir up veggies so they caramelize on all sides. Once fork tender remove from oven. Total cooking time approximately 30-45 minutes.

Let your veggies cool off then in batches puree them with some chicken stock and place in a soup pot.

Once all the vegetables are pureed add the rest of the chicken stock to your soup pot and stir.  Let simmer on medium low heat. Taste your soup to see if you need to season it more. At this point you will also add your fresh herbs and chili pepper flakes.

At the very end of the cooking process add a bit of half and half, maybe 1/2 cup and use an immersion blender to get the soup silky smooth.

I serve this with croutons in the soup and fresh grated parmesan cheese on top! Enjoy!