Swineherd’s Pie

Day four of the great Atlanta snow in. The fridge scavenger hunt continues…

Objective: quick dinner after a long day of work
Found: a frozen clump of sweet Italian sausage, shallots, five red potatoes, a few squashes, shredded cheddar

I can’t call the concoction below a Shepherd’s Pie, because according to Wikipedia, it usually involves lamb, mutton or at least some beef. Sweet Italian sausage is pork, nice, already seasoned minced pork. So the appropriate name here would be Swineherd’s Pie.

After some 20 minutes of preparation, the pie goes in the oven for about 30 minutes, and we are all set. Happy Thursday, everyone!

Swineherd’s Pie

• 5 red potatoes with skin, diced
• 2 tbsp cooking oil (I used coconut oil)
• 3 large shallots, finely chopped
• 1 lbs sweet Italian sausage
• 2 medium zucchini
• 2 medium crookneck yellow squash
• thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper
• a handful of shredded cheddar

Boil potatoes with a bit of salt and a sprig of rosemary until soft enough for mashing. Discard rosemary and drain all but a little bit of cooking water.

Meanwhile, heat your grease in an oven proof skillet over medium heat. Saute shallots until very fragrant and golden. Add sausage, break it into small chunks with a wooden spoon and mix well with onions. Add a few sprigs of thyme and continue cooking for about 10 minutes. Remove and discard thyme.

If your skillet isn’t oven proof, transfer the sausage into a casserole dish at this point.

Slice squash about 1/4 inch thick, and layer in concentric circles over sausage. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Mash potatoes, add a few bits of butter, salt and pepper to taste, and cheddar cheese. Stir well until creamy.

Spread potatoes evenly over squash. Using a fork, scratch the surface in a nice pattern.

Bake in middle of the oven heated to 400ºF for about 30-35 minutes, until potatoes are nicely browned.

Sprinkle with chopped herbs of choice and serve hot.