So, I went ahead and tried it! I tried looking at recipes--and really, there's no consensus on how to make it. Make the meat.. make the gravy... make the mashed potatoes. All of these are as varied, as you can imagine! Everyone has their own secret for mashed potatoes alone, not to mention gravy. And meat.. well, that's meat. So I experimented with this!
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| The Cookware was too shy for this picture. |
Cookware
- Skillet
- 13 by 7 glass baking dish
- Pot
- Slotted Spoon
- Potato Masher
Ingredients
Meat Filling
- 1 Onion
- Ground Beef
- Peas, carrots, corn, etc.
While I usually use lean beef for health reasons, the higher fat ratios of ground beef work better for making the gravy later.
Brown Gravy
- Flour
- Beef Bouillon
- Worcestershire Sauce
- White Pepper
- Salt
Mashed Potatoes
- Potatoes
- Sour cream
- Butter
- Milk
Instructions
I went ahead and got the mashed potatoes going first--chopping up the potatoes, then putting them in water. Whatever you normally do to make mashed potatoes--I used about 7-8 of them. While the water is boiling, chop up the onion finely. I used a mandolin slicer, which is AMAZING for getting the job done. Also, for harming your pinky (that didn't happen this time.) While doing that, preheat the pan you'll use for sauteing, along with a small amount of cooking oil. Once heated, go ahead and add the onion/peas/carrots/whatever you plan on using. Let these saute for about 3-4 minutes, or until they start changing color. Once they start to do that, add your ground beef, and garlic if you're using it. Keep mixing, making sure to try and even out the ground beef as much as you can. Cook the mixture until it's browned.
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| Mmmm. Onion and ground beef. The basis of a simple, delicious meal. |
Once you do so, lower/kill the heat, and begin transferring the meat mixture with a slotted spoon to the glass cookware. Let it drain in the skillet as you do so--we're going to be using the grease in the skillet later for gravy. This didn't take too long, as it drained readily.
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| Yeah, getting steamy in here. |
Once it's fully transferred over, check your mashed potatoes. Depending on your rhyme and reason to making them, go ahead and start mashing them up. For those who don't quite know how to make them: strain the potatoes of the water, then transfer back to the pan. While in the pan, add butter, sour cream, and milk to taste, as well as any spices (salt, pepper, etc). When you're learning to make them, add a little of the milk, sour cream, and butter at a time-- you can always add more of those, but you can't add more potatoes.
Since I wouldn't describe myself as dexterous, I made the potatoes a little bit creamier than I normally do, for ease of spreading. Again, not a whole lot, but enough so they were more malleable.
Once done, begin to heat up your fat drippings again. Prepare ~2 cups of beef broth from the bouillon while you wait for it to heat up. Once heated, begin to sprinkle the leftover fat with flour, using a whisk to make sure it doesn't clump up. You don't want the flour to start balling up--just make a slurry. If you add to much flour, no worries! Just add some fat of some sort (oil, butter, etc), to thin it back down. Let this cook for a bit until it begins to brown.
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| Mmmm... Calories... |
After that, add a little of your broth at a time, whisking to make sure the flour isn't clumped. After adding the broth (don't make it too thin! I only used a cup and a half overall), add a shake or two of Worcestershire, and then let it simmer for a bit to thicken.
After it's thickened, poor into the meat mixture that you previously set to the side. Make sure it settled, and then begin spreading your mashed potatoes into it. Make sure you start from the outside edges first; I started
from the inside, and it displaced the meat (a little bit), and drippings came off the sides. I ended up having to use aluminum foil to catch the excess from hitting the bottom of the oven.
At this point, go ahead and slide the pan into a 400 degree pre-heated oven, and let bake until the mashed potatoes begin to brown; around 25-30 minutes. After they brown, pull it out of the oven and let it cool for 15-20 minutes.
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| Yay finished product! I love the color around the edges. |
After it's cooled, go ahead and serve! It's slightly goopy at first, but as it cools, it'll turn into more of a rigid structure. (That's.. what she said?)
Things to keep in mind:
- Spread the potatoes from the outside in. This makes a seal that keeps all the yummy juices inside.
- Don't press down too hard on the mashed taters. This slides the meat around, giving it a more mashed potato ratio wherever you pressed down.
- While I normally advocate leaner meats, or even turkey, a higher-fat content ground beef leads to amazing gravy.
- I would also recommend Kitchen Bouquet for the gravy, but I did not have any. Nor could I find any. I feel betrayed by my grocery store. : (
