Shepherd's Pie

I never ate or tried to make Shepherd's Pie until I met my husband, who loves it. I couldn't remember the first recipe I tried, so I automatically reverted to Alton Brown for last night's dinner. (I do know that I tried a Rachael Ray recipe at one point, and, well, ick. Again. I'm not falling for it anymore, Rachael!)

Anyway, I omitted the corn from this recipe (I have an odd hatred of carrots, corn and peas mixed together--I'm not sure why, but I only like them in combinations of two, never the three together). It could have used a bit more salt, and I subbed out the lamb for ground chuck, which requires a little grease-draining to allow the meat sauce to thicken properly. This is a great, rustic main dish, especially perfect for snowy, wintry weather.

I served this with leftover "heavenly" cornbread and a simple tomato salad. The latter normally works best with heirloom tomatoes, which are impossible to find in a regular grocery store, so I just chose some red and yellow tomatoes, gave them a quick chop, and drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper, some fresh thyme, and some thinly sliced red onions. If you have extra time, you can mix some olive oil and fresh herbs together and let it sit for an hour or so to infuse the oil with the herbs prior to drizzling over the tomatoes.

I swear, later tonight I will go over this past Friday's massive dinner, which consisted of a smoked pork, fried pickles (don't grimace if you haven't tried them--they're fantastic), homemade cole slaw, and homemade barbecue sauce.