Shepherd's Pie

Around here we thoroughly enjoy television shows, especially ones about food. Yesterday we were watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which isn't exactly the best food show around, but we're both drawn to anything that addresses Americans eating large amounts of processed foods. Jamie's basic goal is to get people to eat foods made from scratch rather than crap from a box. We're not exactly Jamie's target audience, since my idea of crap for dinner is frozen ravioli, but we still were struck with a need for shepherd's pie after he served it on the show. It's such a nice comforting dish, and it was cold as heck yesterday for all of the beautiful spring sunshine.

SHEPHERD'S PIE

INGREDIENTS
for potatoes
1.5 pounds boiling potatoes
1/2 C milk (I used 1/4 C heavy cream and 1/4 C milk, so decadent)
3-4 T butter, melted
salt and pepper
for the pie
2 T oil (I used 1 T oil and 1 T duck fat, the duck fat adds richness)
1 C onion chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground turkey (regular shepherd's pie would be lamb, or beef, or a combination)
2 T flour (use brown rice flour to make it gf)
1 C chicken stock
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T tomato paste
2-3 t salt
pepper
1/2 C frozen peas
1/2 C frozen or fresh corn kernels

gluten-free note: Lee and Perrin's Worcestershire is gf. Red wine vinegar should be gluten-free.

DIRECTIONS:
Set the water to boil for the potatoes. When it comes to a boil, add the potatoes (halve them if they're large) and cook for 15-20 minutes until a fork slides in easily. Then mash with 1/2 C of milk and 3-4 T of butter. Season well with salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven to 400 F. Add the oil/fat to a large pan or dutch oven. Add the onions and carrots and cook 3-4 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and ground meat. Season with 1 t of salt and some pepper. Brown the meat, about 3-4 minutes, stirring as needed. Once the meat is browned add the 2 T of flour and mix well. Cook for 1 minute longer. Then add the chicken stock, the tomato paste, the Worcestershire sauce and the red wine vinegar. Cook 10-12 minutes until a nice sauce has formed. Taste and add the rest of salt and pepper as needed. Add the peas and corn and cook 1-2 more minutes. Pour into a 1.5 Q baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes, taking care to seal the potatoes against the edge of the dish so that the pie part doesn't bubble up and take over. I did a lousy job of this.
See?

Bake for 25 minutes and allow to cool a bit before cutting into it.