Now I’m sure you’ve all been breathlessly, sleeplessly awaiting news of what happened to the rest of the BBQ pork/mutant Thai broth, and I’m pleased to be able to oblige so that you may return to your normal, non-awesome-broth-having lives. The short answer is shepherd’s pie. The longer answer is that we had 2 frozen burger patties and I figured that in conjunction with all the veggie goodness that was also to be found in the fridge I might be able to pull off something that was rich and comforting while also being extremely healthy. And Milo LOVES him some shepherd’s pie.
So the meat, browned in some duck fat- to which I then added enough flour to make a roux- got all snuggly with onions, celery, garlic, carrots and parsnips (from the garden) blue potatoes, butternut squash, leek, spinach, and the last of the broth, then simmered away while I steamed sweet potatoes. Once mashed and seasoned, I slathered them all atop the beef-o-riffic brothtacular splendor in a baking dish and dusted them with panko.
Now given that the meat to veg ratio in this version was pretty much upside-down from the traditional, one could reasonably expect it to have been a little on the lean side. But you’d be forgetting the broth. The porky, barbeque-scented, Thai-perfumed marvel of a broth which, abetted by the ducky roux, took the sparsely distributed beef particles and gave them a gleaming, silky continuum of yum in which to cavort, thus magnifying their Meaty Comfort Coefficient by an order of magnitude. We washed all this post-minimal late-winter hedonism down with a 2003 Cheze “Cuvée Ro-Ree” St. Joseph, which continues to be among my very favorite sub-$20 wines in the whole world. Assy, tangy, appealingly layered, it lacks the heft and seamless mid-palate of a great Syrah, but for the money it’s hard to find something more compatible with food like this.
Just catching up with your last few days of posts. As usual, it makes me hungry to read your prose. Pictures aren’t half bad, either. 🙂 (I know you hate emoticons but I can’t resist)
A ducky roux sounds like a very good thing.
I’ll see your Meaty Comfort Coefficient and raise you an r=1. It may be a 45 degree angle, but that’s straight up, baby.
It’s like grandma’s brown/beige shepard’s pie ate peyote!
i have a feeling my british husband’s mom did not brown the meat for her shepherds pie in duck fat. maybe i’ve never said it before but milo is one lucky kid. duck fat…DUCK FAT FOR DINNER!?!?!?!??!
A truly psychotic shepherd’s pie, dude (or maybe psychedelic).
I never thought I’d be calling shepherd’s pie “artsy”, but there you are. Looks fantastic.
Zoomie: The longer days are helping the pictures, no doubt.
Lisa: Oh, yes.
Blanche: Your metaphors are mixed, and thick as gruel.
Brittany: Except without the vomiting.
Amy: I’ve got jars of smoked and regular. It makes everything better.
Hank: Either way, it worked.
Brooke: As a wise man once said: “Less artsy, more fartsy.”
Is the title of this post a tiny bit offensive or is it just me? haha. Duck fat sheperd’s pie.. brings tears to my eyes. Oh joy!