Mini Shepherd's Pie

Tonight I made shepherd's pie in my new mini cocottes. I can't get over how cute everything looks served in little containers. Since you can't buy less than a pound of beef, the recipe would have served at least 4 but I only made it for 2. I used the leftover meat mixture to make a pasta sauce and boiled some pasta in the pot before I boiled the potato. This made 2 servings of pasta and sauce for me to take to school for lunch the next couple of days. Also, I didn't need the 2 potatoes I bought because I had so much leftover. Next time I'll just use one for 2 servings.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 bag frozen peas and carrots
about 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
about 2 tbsp ketchup
1 can beef broth
2 russet potatoes, cubed
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk
salt, pepper, paprika to taste.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Brown ground beef in a small amount of oil over medium heat. Drain fat. Add frozen peas and carrots, ketchup and worcestershire sauce. Add beef broth, salt and pepper, and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Spoon meat mixture 3/4 way up the mini cocottes. Meanwhile, bring potato cubes to boil in cool water for about 15 minutes. Drain, and mash with butter and milk, salt and pepper. Dollop a couple of spoonful of mashed potato onto the beef mixture in the mini cocottes. Use a fork and drag it around in circles to create a ridge design. Sprinkle with a little paprika. Bake at 375 for 5-10 minutes, just to heat through, and then broil for about 5 minutes to brown edges of mashed potato.

Add a small can of tomato sauce to leftover beef mixture to make a pasta bolognese sauce.