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Friday, August 17, 2012

Shepherdopolous Pie

So.
In the theme of all things healthy, I've been trolling for recipes.  In the theme of cleaning out my freezer, there have been some rather stringent requirements around what we eat.
According to the inscription in the front, I got my copy of Looneyspoons for my 24th birthday.  Their broccoli-cheddar soup is my go to recipe, but I've never made many other things from the book.  With J's new health requirements, that is about to change. 
For those familiar with Looneyspoons, and its successors Crazyplates and Eat, Shrink and Be Merry, it's a cookbook of lowfat recipes with huge taste and a huge helping of puns.  The book is old enough that some recipes are a little outdated for current nutrition trends, but as a basic book it's got some good ideas.
This is one of them.  I present to you now Shepherdopolous Pie:

Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 c skim milk
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1/4 c dry breadcrumbs
1/4 c minced onions
1 egg white
1 tbsp ketchup
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 large tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 c shredded reduced fat Swiss cheese
1/4 c crumbled feta cheese
1/2 10-oz package frozen spinach, squeezed dry and chopped

Method:
1.  Cook potatoes in a large pot of boiling water until tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain well, add milk and salt.  Mash until smooth.  Set aside.
2.  In a large bowl, combine beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg white, ketchup, garlic, and black pepper.  Mix well (using your hands is best).  Pat beef mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie plate.
3.  Layer tomato slices over beef, sprinkle oregano over tomatoes.  Top with cheese and spinach.  Spoon potatoes over spinach and smooth, leaving a 1 inch border between the meat and the potatoes.
4.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes before slicing into wedges.
From Looneyspoons.

I was a little concerned about using the meat as the crust.  I don't really know why, but I was.  Here it is in the pie plate.  It was thicker than I thought it would be.  Yes, the meat is old.  I found it in the very bottom of my freezer.  I don't know how old, but old.  Don't judge me.
Here's the tomato layer.  I ended up sprinkling with an Italian seasoning mix because I didn't have any straight oregano.  It made this international.
I didn't have any Swiss cheese, so I used 1/2 c of crumbled feta.  I also didn't read that I was to use half the package spinach, so I used the whole thing.  It really didn't matter.  Or perhaps my package of spinach was 5 oz.  It didn't seem to overfill the dish.
Here we are out of the oven.  It smelled amazing.  Extra lean ground beef is very important, because the juices bubble between the potatoes and meat.  If you used anything with any grease in it, it would boil over.
It also tasted amazing.  Double spinach is not a bad thing.  J told me I can make this again whenever I want.  I'd call that a win.




1 comment:

  1. If you ever encounter purple potatoes they make a wild colour combination ... as do orange yams. The kids love it because of the colours.
    :)

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