Cottage Pie - Beef Shepherd's Pie
Household favorite recipe that usually never fails me with other people - Easy Cottage Pie - Delicious comfort food that is throw together and bake.
Calories: 807kcal
Equipment
- All Natural* 80% Lean/20% Fat Ground Beef Chuck Tray, 2.25 lb - Walmart.com
- McCormick Brown Gravy Mix, 0.87 oz - Walmart.com
- DEL MONTE Sweet Gold and White Whole Kernel Corn, 15.25 oz Can - Walmart.com
- Idahoan Buttery Homestyle Mashed Potatoes Family Size, 8 oz Pouch - Walmart.com
- Great Value Finely Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 16 oz - Walmart.com
Ingredients
- 2 ish Pounds Ground Beef
- 2 Brown Gravy Packets + 1 ½ cups water
- 1 Can of Corn
- 8 Servings of Instant Mashed Potatoes
- 4 Cups of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°
- Brown and crumble ground beef in a skillet.
- Drain most of the grease
- Stir in 2 gravy packets and 1½ cups of water to the beef.
- Dump all the beef into the bottom of a roasting pan or 9x13 baking pan OR separate out half and half into two 7-9 inch pans or 2 bread loaf pans.
- Using a spatula (or rubber spatula / silicone spatula). flatten beef as a layer.
- Drain the can of corn, and dump over the beef. If using two pans, separate out half and half between the pans. Flatten over the beef as a layer.
- Make your instant potatoes as directed.
- Plop spoons of potatoes into the dish. Of course, if using two dishes, then separate the potatoes half and half. The method I do is I do a good spoonful on each corner, and then the center, then between the corners along the edge, and then fill in any gaps. Then I use a spatula to flatten it. Be careful, if you swipe it across too hard, it will stick to the spatula and lift up the corn underneath it. It's still good all mixed up so don't 'fret' if that happens, but for sake of the pretties, gently mash it down and out.
- Sprinkle the cheese on top. Again, half it out between 2 pans if using 2 pans.
- Bake at 400° for about 20 to 30 minutes, until you see little bubbles in the beef and the cheese brown a little on the edges.
Notes
You can use a disposable pan if you don't want to wash it when you're done, but I will say that this cottage pie / beef shepherd's pie isn't too bad of a scrub once soaked.
I used to make the mashed potatoes with the instant potatoes that required butter, salt and milk, and instead of following the package instructions, I would use 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk and 4 TBSP of Mayo, which are easier to spread as they are greasy, but my kids stopped liking their mashed potatoes that way. Now I use the Family Pack of just add water.