Cooking with Kirfkin!

I made a more Americanized Shepherd's Pie, but it's probably a bit closer to a Cottage Pie. I've never actually had it made with mutton, but I'd like to try it.

Anyhow! I really didn't do much measurements of things, the mashed potatos were leftover and I just added more milk as I reheated them to get them nice and soft and spreadable.

Ingredients:
Mashed Potatoes (or about 2 pounds of potatoes to mash. I use red-skinned)
About 3 or so cups of corn, or about 1 lb of frozen corn
One small to medium onion, you can use more to taste
Two stalks celery
1/4 to 1/2 cup of peas
About 1/2 cup of carrots... To taste, really.
Salt, Pepper, other spices are optional (I suggest Garlic, Oregano and other common Italian herbs)
2-3 tbsp butter, for sauteing
About 1 pound of ground beef, turkey or mutton (suppose any meat you're willing to try)
1/4-1/2 cup of shredded Colby Jack
Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup of prepared rice

Optional: ~1/2 cup broth

Set your oven to 400 Degrees F (205C)

Break down the ground meat and brown slowly in a deep skillet or pot.

Dice your onions (easy suggestion, cut both ends off first, and peel, and it's a lot easier). Dice your carrots. Dice your celery.

Melt the butter in a frying pan, and saute the onions, carrots and celery on medium, medium-high heat, or about 10 minutes. Add about half of the peas.

Once the beef is no longer pink (or otherwise properly cooked), drain the grease.

When the vegetables are finished sauteing, add them to the beef. I added a bit of milk, as well, and a little bit of chicken stock I had around. I let this simmer for a little bit.

I then added salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, as well as the remaining peas. I mixed this around first, and then added the rest of my spices. I used Garlic, several Italian spices, a dash of chili powder and paprika, with more garlic than the others. As always, season to your tastes and don't be afraid to experiment.

I added the rice here, and again stirred.

If it gets to dry, add a bit more broth, or milk, or even water. Just let it simmer for a few minutes to get rid of some of the extra liquid. You want it moist, but not wet. If you want a gravy like texture (Which is how I hear those in Ireland eat it) then you will have to change things around a bit. I will try to post ideas for it later.

Take out a baking dish, set it on hot pads or a similar heat diffusing surface, and spread the meat and vegetable mixture across the bottom.

Spread the corn in an even layer above it.

Finally, above the corn, spread your mashed potatoes. It's good to try to create some peaks and perhaps designs on the surface of them to help them brown in a nicely presentable manner. Mine were a bit too runny (since I had reheated them) to really do this effectively.

I set the dish into the oven for 28 minutes, before coming back to check on it. If it looks like the potatoes are starting to brown or at least get thicker if they were runny, sprinkle the cheese across the surface and set the oven to broil at about 500F.

I broiled for just over two minutes to get it how I wanted it, and that's how it turned out.

Questions? Comments? I'll try to clean up the process for you all a bit later.

Here's what it looks like while still hot, and right onto the plate. It keeps its form a little bit better once cooled properly; I hadn't let it cool quite enough. Bad on my part.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.....0/DSCI0655.jpg