Cheesy Shepard's Pie with a Twist

I have confessed to you before that I am addicted to cooking shows.  Well for some reason, this week, nearly every cooking show, or cooking segment on a morning show has made some sort of casserole.  Is it national casserole week?  I don't know, but I figured I'd jump in on the bandwagon.

As you know, I grew up in a very Italian family and I had never heard of Shepard's Pie until I went to middle school got to eat cafeteria food for the first time in my life.  Well the Shepard's Pie in my school cafeteria was a scary concoction of ground beef, vegetables and gooey mashed potatoes on top. Back in the 70's when casseroles were all the rage, I tried to feed my family Shepard's Pie a few times, but it was not a hit.

This morning on the Today Show, Al Roker made Shepard's pie, and I got the idea I would try it again.  I did change his recipe drastically.  He used ground beef, I used left over cooked chicken. He made his gravy with dark beer and bullion, I used white wine and chicken stock, but  I did like his idea of putting cream cheese and sour cream in the mashed potatoes though.  Yumm.

This is a meal that lends itself to using up left overs, which is what prompted me to try it.  I had some left over cooked chicken in the freezer, left over green beans from dinner the other night, as well as a little bit of left over mashed potatoes.  I did have to cook more potatoes to make sure there was enough.

This is one of those recipes that you can adapt to whatever you have in your kitchen. Feel free to change up the combination of vegetables. Use red and green peppers if you like, or frozen mixed vegetables, the possibilities are endless. The ingredient list is long, but this went together in the time it took me to cook the potatoes, honestly!  Have fun with this!

3 cups diced cooked chicken
2 large potatoes cut up
1 onion diced
2 cloved minced garlic
1 cup of carrots diced
1 green beans, cut into small pieces
1 cup frozen corn
6 tablespoons butter divided
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup white wine
about 2 cups chicken stock plus more for the mashed potatoes
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (do not use garlic salt)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Begin by boiling the potatoes in salted water.  Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet and add the onions, carrots and garlic.  When the vegetables have softened after about five minutes add the corn, green beans, salt, pepper and rosemary.  Saute until the corn is cooked.  Now add the flour of the pan and cook for about three minutes over medium high heat.  Add the wine and scrape up any bits on the bottom of the pan.  Add the chicken broth and worcestershire and cook over high heat until mixture thickens.  You may add more broth if it gets too thick.  Remove from heat and add the parmesan cheese.  Mix well.  Prepare a casserole dish with non stick cooking spray and pour the mixture into the casserole.  Now drain the potatoes and return to the pot.  Add the cream cheese, sour cream butter and garlic powder, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and mash.  Add chicken broth until you have a smooth consistency.  Spread the potatoes over the casserole and top with cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, Heat your broiler, and place under the broiler for about three minutes, or until the top begins to brown.  Enjoy!

Please leave questions and comments in the comment section below this post and don't forget to share with your friends!

Happy Cooking!
Carol

a.k.a.
Nonnie

A New Kind of "Pizza" Dough.

As some of you may know, we were buried in about 26 inches of snow this weekend.  I don't know why, but snow makes me want to cook.  This is a recipe I found in a new cookbook I just purchased before Christmas called The Free Range Cook, by Annabel Langbein.  I just discovered her on the PBS Create channel.  She is from New Zealand and has some really interesting dishes.  This recipe is for a kind of pizza like pie called Pissaladiere.

What I found really interesting about the recipe was the dough.  I pretty much changed up the toppings, but I wanted to try this dough.  There is no yeast, and its made with olive oil. If you are a fan of thin crust pizza, which I am, then this is for you.  It is so much easier than traditional pizza dough, and even though I have told you to purchase your pizza dough ready made, this is still easier.  The magic comes in rolling it out.  Traditional pizza dough is like working with silly putty.  You roll it out and it just springs back;  it takes work and skill to get it really thin. This is so easy to roll out.  Also she makes some suggestions for baking that I found really helpful.  This does not lend itself to wet soggy tomato sauce, it is more of a rustic pie, but oh so good! I am going to give you the dough recipe and some suggestions for toppings. This recipe makes enough for one large sheet pan.  Feel free to double it. Have fun!

Olive oil dough:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3  cup good olive oil
2/3 cup warm water

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir with a fork to combine.  Combine oil and water and add to the flour mixture.  I used a fork and then a wooden spoon to combine, and finally, a few quick turns with my hands.  Cover with a dishtowel  and let rest for 1/2 hour.  You can let it rest as long as 24 hours. This is a very soft, moist dough.

While the dough is resting, you can pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees and prepare your toppings.  About 15 minutes before you are ready to bake your pie, place your sheet pan in the oven to preheat.  This little trick helps to make sure you have a crisp crust.

Now for toppings.  I thinly sliced two onions and minced about 6 cloves of garlic. I sauteed this in about two tablespoons of olive oil until they were soft and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Next I prepared grape tomatoes but cutting in half and squeezing out the juice.  Finally, the original recipe called for using uncooked Italian sausage as a topping, but I didn't want to defrost a whole package of sausage for just a few sausages, so I cut up some pepperoni into tiny bits and  cooked it in a skillet to render out the fat.  I also used kalamata olives, grated Asiago cheese, pesto which I had in the freezer, dried rosemary and dried basil.

Next cut a piece of parchment paper to fit your pan.  Flour the paper and roll out your dough into a large rectangle.  Turn over the edges to make a kind of lip around the outside.  Next I covered it with the cooked onions and garlic.  Then I put on the tomatoes, olives, pepperoni, herbs, a few blobs of pesto and cheese.  Remove the hot pan from the oven, lift the parchment and place onto the pan. Return to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. I will admit the lifting of the parchment was a bit tricky as the dough folded over on itself, but it was an easy repair because this is such a forgiving dough.

Experiment with toppings.  I would love to try broccoli, zucchini or other veggies.  What about cooked chicken? The original recipe did not have cheese, but I added just a little.  Try other cheeses and experiment with your toppings.  Let me know how yours turned out! Don't forget that you can leave questions and comments in the comments section just below this post.  Also please feel free to share with friends!

Happy cooking!
Carol

a.k.a.
Nonnie