Horseradish-Mashed Potato Shepherd's Pie

Aubrey and I have drastically reduced the amount of red meat in our diet with the exception this little beauty from Rachel Ray "Everyday." It was almost a little devious throwing this into the weekly rotation. We got away with it, though, despite some obstacles.

5 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
Salt
1/4 cup milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

3 parsnips, peeled and chopped ( couldn't find these so I just used more carrots)
2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

2 lbs. ground beef sirloin ( expensive! I went with ground chuck)

3 tbsp. flour

1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2-3 tbsp. chopped, fresh chives ( also pricy if you haven't grown them but so worth it)

1. Place the potatoes in a large pot of cold water, boil. Salt the water, lower heat, and simmer until fork tender ( about 15 min.). Drain, mash with milk until smooth. Add horseradish, egg, and season with salt and pepper.

2. In the meantime, in a deep skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add parsnips ( if you have them), carrots, onion, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper, cook until crisp-tender( cousin of sweet-sour)

3. Crumble beef into pan and brown, stirring often. Sprinkle flour on top and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add broth and cook until thickened. Add worcestershire sauce and plenty of salt and pepper. Remove bay leave.

4. Preheat oven to 450. Grease a medium casserole dish that looks like it will hold all this stuff you have created. Add meat mixture and top with horseradish potatoes. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Remove, sprinkle with chives....devour.

OKAY! Sounds smooth as pudding, right?

Things I would do differently next time:

Notice there is no talk of draining the 2 lbs of beef? Well, next time I will either fork over the extra dough for ground sirloin ( not sure if this will make a difference) or drain it before adding in the flour and broth. I wish I could buy grease credits for my body.... I guess that damage is a little closer to home so you don't quite get the blind bliss of carbon credits.

I've also decided that next time I will put a cookie sheet under the casserole dish so as to avoid grease fires. Aubrey had to have been crestfallen when he noticed the inferno in our oven but somehow he managed to calmy analyze the situation and draw my attention to the flames. Fortunately, I saved the day by saving the pie and it was TASTY...and a little greasy. Do yourself a favor and get rid of it. Oh and get parsnips if you can find them. I bet they're good.