Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie, Cottage Pie, wait!

Sweet potato topped cottage pie. Gluten-free.

A certain individual living by the mesa has some news. Can you guess? We sold the house. We're moving lock, stock and barrel (in reality, more like Macs, books and UGGS) to Los Angeles, packing up the Honda Fit again to head West and start our new life as Los Angelenos.

I am almost too wired to write.

The quasi-plan is to rent a furnished place for a month. In mid October. Once we're out there, we'll begin our search in earnest for a longer lease- a space we can call our own, not too far from the ocean, I hope. A place with a workable kitchen. Windows. Light. Simple criteria.

As I sort through art books to sell (all the impressionist/landscape books I once mooned over- like a school girl- no longer tug at my attention) I am imagining the new again. I am fueled by the scent of possibility and change and consumed with the urge for going. Three and a half years in the desert have inked their big sky imprint upon me.

I feel as if I sport an invisible tattoo.

Time and distance will reveal the wisdom gained here (if any is to be found). Time and distance will temper the losses. No doubt memory itself will soften the sharp hungers of the everyday isolation and doubt.

Some readers have asked me, What lesson did you need to learn? implying that there is a silver lining to every prickly, dark experience and that if we only embrace The Lesson, we'll be free.

Well, I can answer that. 

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Irish Cottage Pie | Shepherd's Pie

Gluten-free shepherd's pie, Irish style cottage comfort.

Old School Comfort

I have been craving comfort food and shepherd's pie- even though it's been a warm and breezy week here by the Chama River north of Santa Fe. The promise of Spring is tugging at our sluggish winter bodies, cracking and stiff and a tad thicker than one would care to admit. We are itchy to walk- just as the junipers are shedding pollen in curtains of dirty yellow. We walked and sneezed and rubbed gritty eyes.

For this we waited all winter? I complained.

It strikes us as ironic if not downright diabolical. Mother Nature is taunting us. The coyotes are laughing on the rim of the mesa. I listen and note they are closer than usual, emboldened by our wintery hibernation. The land belongs to them now. We're simply tourists.

This doesn't bother me. I'm just here in passing, on my way home. Taking the long way- dreaming of the west coast and glassy blue-green waves curling in to shore. I'm an ocean girl, a beachcomber.  Not a cowgirl. I've never ridden a horse in my life. Or handled a rifle (two skills highly valued in this part of the world). The desert does not feed me. She takes from me. Sucking every last drop. If I stay here much longer I fear you will find me as brittle and sun-bleached as one of Georgia O'Keeffe's bone paintings.

I'm not quite ready to give up on the juicy part of my life.

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Good Karma Meatloaf Pie with Dill Mashed Potato Crust

 

I'll just say it. If you like comfort food you're gonna love this meatloaf pie recipe with a mashed gold potato crust. It's simple, hearty comfort food. Because I'm a home-style cook. I'm no chef. I know my way around a kitchen but eviscerating a chicken? I'll pass. And I've never been attracted to truffles. I could care less about honing my knife skills. I chop slow and steady. Without fanfare.

My soul is built for comfort not for speed.

So it's no surprise I'm a rustic stew and roasted veggie gal at heart. I'm not  entirely sorry to see the summer come to an end. The 100ºF days. The kitchen so hot you hesitate to ignite a single burner- never mind turn on the oven. Enough, already! Knowing the fall equinox is just around the corner is fine with me. I welcome the cooler evenings, the gentler sun. 

Fall is eye candy gorgeous here in northern New Mexico- the perfect balance of honeyed sunlight and clear-as-a-bell cobalt skies, the quaking aspens and golden cottonwoods. The aroma of roasting green chiles. It's intoxicating.

And it's enough to brighten any comfort-food-loving mama's spirits. We get to turn our ovens back on again- and roast and bake to our heart's content.

Ironically- you remember irony, don't you?- the best protein for me now (once a vegetarian goddess) is animal sourced. At first I was resistant to include meat in my diet, clinging stubbornly to my life-long belief that the vegetable kingdom- along with some happy dancing-in-the-barnyard hens and generous brown-eyed moo cows and goats- could sustain me well. I was tickled pink to live for years on end (three decades) as an ovo-lacto vegetarian sometimes vegan. 

But after my celiac diagnosis, and additional digestive revelations- not to mention, broken hip- it appears my karma has a wicked sense of humor.

Veganism? Dream on. 

It just ain't gonna work. For the sake of my health and bones, I must officially join the ranks of the flexitarians. At least I'm not alone. The peace loving Dalai Lama himself discovered he failed to thrive on a strict vegetarian diet as well. So he eats animal protein every other day. He likes to say- with his signature twinkle- he is vegetarian for half the year. I decided if he could live with that,  Bubela, who am I to argue?

And so I made a meatloaf (a Maple-Apricot Glazed Meatloaf, in fact). And with the leftovers, I made- you guessed it! Meatloaf pie. 

Vegans and vegetarians- don't be blue- try my totally veggie Shepherd's Pie recipe- it's just as good.

Dill smashed potatoes top this easy pie.

Good Karma Meatloaf Pie Recipe

What to do with leftover turkey meatloaf or hamburgers? Make a pie, Darling. Sometimes I put together a single pie in my favorite clay casserole dish. But last night I divided up the filling and made two individual pies with a mashed gold potato crust.

Ingredients:

Leftover meatloaf- enough for two servings
1/2 cup roasted corn kernels- or baby peas
6-8 little grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup cooked carrot pieces
A splash of broth mixed with a touch of ketchup, to moisten
About two cups of cooked potatoes- or non-mayo potato salad (I used mashed gold potatoes with dill)
Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Dill or parsley for the top

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Use a fork to break apart the leftover meatloaf. Add the corn, tomatoes and carrots; mix to combine. Add enough broth and ketchup to moisten the mixture. Season to taste. Add a touch more ketchup or gluten-free Worcestershire sauce- especially if it is dry. Mix and spoon into a casserole dish or individual gratin dishes.

Top with cooked potatoes, mashed potatoes, or even vinegar potato salad. Sprinkle with dill, sea salt and pepper.

Bake until heated through and bubbling- about 30 to 35 minutes or so (depending upon how cold the leftovers were when you assembled your pie).

Serve with a crisp green salad.

Serves two.

Karina's Notes:

If you like a spicy meatloaf pie use your favorite salsa to moisten the filling and add some chopped jalapenos.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Vegetarian shepherd's pie- gluten-free comfort food.

Mashed Potato Crust Love

Why I've been craving mashed potatoes lately, I don't know. Spring has arrived here in the high desert. The days are longer and kinder. Apple trees are blooming. And all I can think about is a mound of soft creamy mashed potatoes. This means something.

Yeah. What it means is I am craving some serious comfort food in the form of a baked shepherd's pie- only my version is vegan and brimming with fresh vegetables. Forget the meat. And forget the lentils (so 1970's). 

And fake meat- er, I mean, highly processed soy protein or vital wheat gluten? 

I don't think so. 

Seitan is evil.

That's why they call it seitan.

No, my shepherd's pie has to satisfy not only my potato comfort craving, but my hankering for vegetables, spice and flavor. You know what that means. I live lived in New Mexico after all. It's gotta have some green chile in it. It's gotta have a little heat. Comfort food - for this gluten-free goddess, anyway- has got to have a little kick. Something to stir the taste buds awake after a long winter.

Bland is so, well, yesterday.

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