Gluten-Free Shepherd's Pie

Recipe Title: Gluten-Free Shepherd's Pie
Recipe Link: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/03/irish-cottage-pie-recipe.html
Status: Approved!
Rating: 9/10

Jen's Notes: This recipe was pretty simple to make, but a bit time consuming. That seems to be an ongoing theme lately. Fortunately, I decided to make this one ahead of time so I only had to pop it in the oven the day I wanted to serve it.

One tip I would give is to get the potatoes started right away. Peeled and diced, they took about 45 minutes to cook in boiling water. If you want to save a little time, skip the peeling but make sure you wash the skins thoroughly.

While the potatoes are cooking, I would recommend doing a full prep. You've got quite a few things to get chopped up, and you don't want anything to burn while you're chopping the next round of ingredients. You're going to be pretty busy stirring things, so just go ahead and get the leeks, garlic and carrots chopped up before you start the meat. Never chopped up a leek before? It's pretty simple - just think of it as a giant green onion - slice the white part and throw out the green part. I would recommend that you take a second to break up the leek slices before you throw them on the meat. Otherwise, you end up with giant chunks of leek. Also, make sure you wash the leeks very thoroughly. If you've ever seen Alton Brown talk about leeks, then you already know what I'm going to say. Because leeks grow up out of the ground in layers, there WILL be dirt between the layers. If you want to save a few bucks (cause leeks aren't cheap), you could probably substitute green onions or regular white onions. I didn't honestly notice much of a difference in the taste, so I'll probably try that next time. If you are going to sub white onions, I would suggest using about 1 1/2 - 2 whole chopped onions.

Other than that, this recipe is pretty straightforward. I loved the taste, but I knocked it one point because hubby felt the need to put ketchup on it. However, he still liked it and said we can add it to the "make again" list. My picky little brother also joined us for dinner that night, and he scarfed it down with no ketchup at all.

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