Cheddar-Topped Shepherd's Pie

After years spent subscribing to magazines I never cooked from, I instituted a new rule - I must cook at least one recipe from any magazine I subscribe to before the next issue comes out. That meant I was thumbing through the October issue of Everyday Food while planning this week's menus and I found this recipe for Cheddar-Topped Shepherd's Pie. I had ground beef to use up and this seemed like a good version of the classic dish, so I gave it a whirl:


I halved the recipe since I didn't want to make a ton of food and it still made plenty of food for 4 servings. I made some slight modifications - added a hearty splash of red wine for flavor, added frozen peas for color and for another vegetable - but kept to the basic gist of the recipe. It was quite good, although I think I used too much cheese in the cheddar topping, which meant the potatoes didn't get brown and crispy. Next time I'd leave the additional cheese off since there was plenty in the potatoes themselves. Overall a very good, hearty comfort food meal.