Caveman-Friendly Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s Pie is one of my personal comfort foods.  I have no idea how it got to be that way for me, because I don’t think my mom ever made it when I was little, but I love it.  It has meat. YAY, MEAT!  Veggies.  YAY, VEGGIES! Mashed Potatoes YAY, MASHED POTATOES! And cheese. YAAAAYYYYY, CHEESE!  And it’s hot and hearty.  What’s not to love?

Well, those potatoes aren’t the most caveman friendly and the veggies are usually corn, peas, and carrots, which aren’t AWFUL, but they’re really not the best for keeping your insulin levels nice and even.

Shepherd’s Pie is also known as Cottage Pie and the dish originated as an affordable meal for low-income folks in the 18th century.  They’d just grab whatever leftover meat they had and mash up some cheap potatoes (My Irish forebears can attest.) and maybe a few other things and just bake it up.  Super easy and cheap!

I haven’t had it in a while because I’ve never made it for myself and I haven’t ordered it at restaurants because of the potatoes.  But I went out for lunch with some of my friends and coworkers to this Irish-ish gastro-pub near the office and they had shepherd’s pie on the menu.  I was very tempted, but remembered how much I don’t like feeling the way corned beef looks or being dead.  So, I opted for a basic salad and grilled chicken breast.  But it also struck me that it would be SUPER easy to make it caveman-friendly and this weekend I proved myself correct.

Here’s my recipe:

Standard Cooking with Trey Caveat: I am not good with the measuring.  I tend to dump things in that sound good and adjust the proportions until I think it tastes good.  It’s a wonder anything makes it to the final product with all the tasting I do, but that’s part of the fun.  Also, unlike some caveman advocates, I am not especially picky about organic/fresh ingredients.  I don’t have a discerning enough palate to really appreciate it and my bank account likes me that way.  Improvise as suits you.

Trey’s Caveman-Friendly Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

• 2 – 3 large Butternut Squash
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 medium onion (or larger if you like onions like me)
• A large bag of frozen, California-style (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots) veggies
• 2.5 lbs of ground beef
• 2 – 3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
• Parmesan or cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Cut your squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and put them cut side up in about an inch of water in a baking dish.  Cook them in the oven at 400 degrees for as long as it takes for them to get nice and tender when you poke them with a fork.
   • This usually takes me about 45 minutes to an hour.  I don’t trust my oven, so just check them after 30 minutes and every 10 minutes after that and judge for yourself.
   • My grocery store only had two TINY butternut squashes in stock, so I grabbed an acorn squash to supplement.  I might have grabbed two, but I wasn’t sure how much it would make.
2. When the squash are done cooking, let them cool and then scoop the meat into a mixing bowl. Mash and stir well, adding in your heavy cream and a half stick or so of butter.
3. Salt and pepper this to taste. Then set this aside.
   • This is basically how you make mashed squash, although I usually use a full stick of butter for that.  Here, I used less butter and cream than usual because I wanted it to be a little more dry.
   • Show-off Tip: Buy white ground pepper for your mashed squash.  This pepper will keep the squash from looking “dirty” or as if it has little bugs in it or something.
4. Chop up your onion and sautee it in whatever’s left of your butter in a LARGE pan.
   • I didn’t do it this time, but I might have sauteed a clove or two of garlic as well at this point
5. Once the onions are almost clear or you’re just tired of waiting (I like my onions a little undercooked. I like the texture and they retain more flavor this way.) add in your bag of veggies and sautee them.
6. When the veggies are pretty much done, add in your meat and brown it with the veggies and everything.  Depending on how lean your meat is, you may want to drain it a little before proceeding.
7. Add Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and other seasoning to taste.
   • If you used garlic at the start, you might want to leave out the garlic powder. Similarly, if you used more onion, the onion powder may also not be necessary.
8. Take a 9 x 13 baking dish and layer the meat mixture on the bottom.
9. Next, layer the mashed squash and, finally, top with your cheese.
10. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 – 30 minutes or until the juice has boiled for about 10 minutes or so.  If you think it’s cooked plenty, but it’s not nice and golden brown on top, you can pop it in the broiler for 10 minutes or so.
11. Let cool and serve.

That’s it!!  This seems like it will make four or five LARGE meals for me.  Delicious and inexpensive!

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