Recipe: Pork and Sausage Shepherd’s Pie

I’m sure you all know that Calgary was victim to an impromptu snow storm earlier this week. Seeing as it was sunny and gorgeous on Sunday, it was a little frightening to wake up to snow the following day…and the next two days…The snow has since melted, but I have a feeling it will be back in some shape or form prior to Thanksgiving.

The snow storm kicked my cooking into comfort food overdrive, so I ended up making a couple batches of sheperd’s pie. One with lamb meat (which I love, but this is not the platform to discuss that! Ha, ha!) and one with ground pork and sausage. The pork pie made for a filling dinner on a night full of snowflakes and saddened souls.

Good food can always numb the cold weather pain, so keep this recipe in your back pocket for the next time you find yourself in a less than fair weather situation!

What you’ll need…

Filling:

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 lb ground pork

2 Spolumbo Italian sausages (casing removed)

1/2 cup white wine

1 yellow onion (diced)

3 cloves garlic (minced)

2 leeks (trimmed, halved and thinly sliced)

2 large carrots (peeled and diced)

1 small zucchini (diced)

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons liquid honey

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon water

salt and pepper (to taste)

Potato topping:

3 russet potatoes (peeled and 1/2″ cubed)

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper

Directions:

Filling:

Heat canola oil on medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the ground pork and sausage and cook until well-browned. Remove from pot, strain any excess liquid and let cool on paper towel to absorb any grease.

Return pot to the stove and add wine to deglaze pot, scrapping any bits on the bottom of the pot with a spoon. Add the next 3 ingredients to the pot and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

Add in carrots, zucchini, spices and butter and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

Reduce to medium heat and pour in the chicken stock and return cooking pork to the pot. Let mixture simmer until liquid reduces by 1/3, approximately 18-20 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water and add to the pot. Mixture should thicken noticeably. If not, add a little more cornstarch and water.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, transfer to a large baking dish and set aside for now.

Potato topping:

Fill a large pot with water and salt well. Add potatoes, bring to a boil and let cook until fork tender, about 8 minutes.

Strain and place in a large mixing bowl along with remaining ingredients and mash until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Evenly spread potatoes on top of filling in the baking dish and bake in a 400 degree oven until the ‘pie’ is warm and bubbly and the topping begins to brown, about 12-15 minutes.

Serves 5-6

Total cook time…1 hour, 10 minutes