The Fat Shepard

What I think of when I want to eat Shepard's pie is layers of potato filled with loads of ingredients and the crust on top to make it a complete meal. This was a quick a simple meal I made which taste delicious, there is a "load" of oil but I did not feel disgusted by it for once. Also it's all frozen and canned food practically.

 Although this recipe looks quite long, everything is quite gather-able from your nearest food station, (most should be in your stock and shelves if you planned to cook) and some herbs and spices can be substituted to your own favorite mix of marination. I like to have everything mise en place, french for everything all prepared before cooking as it makes you less likely to forget to put things in your recipe. Of course, not everyone has a big kitchen as I certainly do not so try to at least get all the cutting done. This big meal should be ready in about 2 hours or less including prep time and cooking time. 

Here is what you would need:

• 1 pack of ground beef (approximately 1 lb)
• salt and pepper season to taste (I like using fresh pepper and grounding it down)
• 1 tbsp spicy curry powder (medium)
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp Mesquite seasoning bland 
• 2 tbsp oil (approx)
• 2-3 leaves of bayleaf

the powder part is really arbitrarily. I just know that I put enough to cover the meat with flavor

• 1 jar 16 oz Marinara sauce (I just like using this one, you can use anything you want)
• 1-2 can of non-salted corn
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 3 medium sized onions
• 1 tbsp oil (for grilling onions)
• 3-4 medium sized potatoes sliced 1/8-1/4 inch
• 2 bags of frozen pea+carrot mix
• half cup mayonnaise (optional)
• enough milk to dilute the mayonnaise down to tomato sauce texture

• 2 cups Biscuit mix, (enough to cover the top to prevent burning)
• salt to season
• 4 tbsp oil or 4 tbsp of butter
• cinnamon (optional)
• paprika for top (optional)

1) After you cut the potatoes make sure you soak them in water to keep them fresh looking

2) Finish cutting the onions and defrosting the frozen peas and carrots if they are frozen

3) add the oil to the pan and heat it up, add the ground beef and just marinate on the go, season with the marinades first to get the flavor to where you want it and just before you finish, add the bayleaf, then the curry powder. Pour the ground beef out but do not wash it yet.

3) preheat oven to 350 F

4) I used a 8-12 baking dish for this but you can use anything you want as long as it can hold all the ingredients inside. Layer the bottom layer with potatoes and work your way up with the ground beef, marinara sauce, thawed peas and carrots, corn, beef, mayonnaise mix (the mayonnaise mix only has milk in it), garbanzo beans and everything i did not mention in the middle section of the ingredients. The order does not really affect anything but you will want the potatoes on the bottom layer, after that it does not really matter too much how you order it. The top layer should have sauce to prevent burning. 

5) slice the onions into rings and grill the onions now for about 2 minutes or until they are transparent and add them to the casserole dish

6) after preheat is done, bake dish for about 25 minutes as the potatoes need time to cook. You want to bake it at the lower rack as the potatoes should be the only thing you need to cook at this point. Prepare the biscuit mix during this time, the biscuit mix should have the same consistency as a thick cake batter.

7) Take the casserole out of the oven and turn the oven to 450 F. Pour the biscuit batter on top of the dish until mostly covered. These biscuit mix should expand to fill the whole dish so you don't really need to worry about covering it all up. 

8) Bake for another 10 minutes and dinner is ready!