Shepherd Pie

We stopped by Findview Farm in Gorham Wednesday night and picked up some great hamburg. For anyone looking for locally grown beef, this farm on Mighty Street is a gem of a stop. Steaks, burger, and even lamb can be had in addition to vegetables.

There were some rather nice looking potatoes and corn for sale, so I grabbed some of those as well with the thought of making shepherd pie. I usually like this dish in the fall, cause it's homely and hot and everything I'm looking for in a meal for a chilly evening. Of course, with it still being summer, I'm making exceptions for fresh produce right now.

Shepherd Pie

• A reasonably-sized package of hamburg or lamb-burg, if you can get the good stuff
• A couple of good handfuls of chopped onion
• A couple of good handfuls of your favorite mushrooms
• Corn - a couple ears of fresh in the summer, a package of nibblets in butter sauce when fresh corn can't be had
• 3-5 potatoes, depending on size, peeled and cut into small cubes. Unless they're thin skinned red potatoes, then leave the skins on.
• milk
• butter
• olive oil
• sour cream
• salt, pepper and thyme

So, shepherd pie is made up of all these layers. I start by tossing the potatoes into a pot of water and bringing it to a boil. When the water is boiling, I give the potatoes 10 to 20 more minutes of boiling, depending on how big I chopped them. What you're looking for is potatoes soft enough to mash, but not boiled to death. If you don't know what I mean, try boiling potato pieces for an hour or so.

While waiting for the water to boil and all that, put some olive oil into a skillet and cook the hamburg, mushrooms and onions. The hamburg should be brown and broken up into smallish chunks. Season with salt, thyme (fresh if you have it) and pepper to taste. This is the bottom layer of the shepherd pie. Put the hamburg mixture in the bottom of a casserole and move on to the corn layer.

Note: Ground lamb is also really good in this mix. The trouble is, it's hard to find really good lamb. You'll know really good lamb when you have it. It's not gamy or greasy and it has a great, fresh flavor and melt-in-your-mouth texture. I've only had lamb like this once, and that was from a friend's dad who raised grass-fed sheep. So good.

The corn layer is tricky. In the winter time, or if I'm feeling particularly lazy, I'll grab one of the pre-packaged frozen corn-in-butter-sauce deals, nuke it and throw it in the casserole on top of the hamburg. If it's corn season, I'll grab a couple of ears and toss them in with the potatoes for about 10 minutes or throw them on the grill. Grilling corn is really easy and gives a great additional flavor to the meal. Hey, you could even grill the hamburg, mushrooms and onions if you wanted to. When the corn is done, let it cool and cut the kernels off with a sharp knife. Try just to get the kernels and not the cob. Cob isn't particularly tasty. Toss the corn with a little butter and put this on top of the hamburg in the casserole.

By now the potatoes should be done. Take the tip of your knife and skewer a cube to make certain. It should slide in easily. Drain the potatoes in a colander and put them back in the pan for mashing. I start mashing my potatoes, then adding a little milk, some butter, and some sour cream, if I have it on hand. Then I keep mashing. I continue adding small amounts of milk or butter or sour cream until I get the texture I'm looking for. I like them fluffy and smooth but not too smooth and full of flavor. Salt and pepper the potatoes to taste.

The potatoes go on top of the corn and beef. I tend to make the tops of mine spiky, like some strange anime character's hair. The casserole goes into the oven for 20 minutes to brown up the tops of the taters and make sure the whole business is heated.

Serve heaped up in a bowl. Most of the time, this serves 4.