Serves: 5
Yield: 1.5 qt baking dish
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 30 min
I pulled our leftover Christmas turkey from the freezer this week. It was more than enough for one meal. I served it with mashed potatoes and gravy (chicken bone broth, thickened with some cornstarch), and we had more leftovers. I didn’t want anything (again) that smacked of Christmas or Thanksgiving, so I browsed the Internet for ideas, and came up with this alteration.
I made this with leftover turkey, but any kind of cooked meat would do: chicken, canned chicken, beef, venison, buffalo, pork, etc.
The measurements for all the ingredients are just suggestions; but this amount fit easily into a 1.5-quart baking dish.
If you want to stretch this, you can add corn, peas, and/or green beans to the top of the pie before you put on the mashed potatoes.
As for the mashed potatoes: we like potatoes in this house, so 3 cups was just right. If you like potatoes even more than we do, pile ’em on!
I used a sour cream and chives mixture to add to the mashed potatoes. Any kind of cheese would be a nice substitute (I’m thinking cream cheese…yum).
As we ate it, I thought that perhaps mushrooms would be a good addition in the sauté. Also, I have another Shepherd’s Pie recipe for beef, and it includes a dash of ground clove. I had my doubts about that, but after tasting it, I now add a bit of clove to many of my beef dishes.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
3 stalks celery, with leaves, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 1/2 cups leftover meat, such as turkey, chicken, or pork; cut to bite-size pieces
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 cups gravy, more or less to appearance, texture, and taste
3 cups mashed potatoes, more or less to taste
1/4 cup sour cream
corn, green beans, peas; optional
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add onion, celery and carrots, cooking until onions are translucent.
Gently heat mashed potatoes until stir-able, and stir in the sour cream.
Add turkey, seasonings, and garlic, cook 2 minutes.
Add gravy, cooking until heated through. Transfer to a 1.5-quart baking dish.
Spread mashed potatoes over the top of the meat mixture
If your meat mixture is pretty runny, leave the dish uncovered as it bakes. If it’s dry, cover it.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Maggie Tiggles 