Gluten-Free Shepherd's Pie Two Ways

Cooking light- gluten-free shepherd's pie with lovely gravy, two ways.

A spring rain is rolling through Los Angeles, interrupting a fine, damp mist with sudden bursts of stinging wet drops. The skies are steel gray, gloomy and low. It's the kind of day that calls for comfort in the form of food. Something baked in a crock. Something hot and old fashioned. Something with mashed potatoes. Creamy buttercream gold mashed potatoes.

A savory pie, I said out loud, standing at the kitchen sink, listening to the staccato of rain drumming the mail truck parked just outside the window.

Don't tease me, said my husband, looking up from his latest screenplay.

I wouldn't joke about a thing like pie, I assured him. Seriously. No chance. I'm thinking a shepherd's pie. But not the usual shepherd's pie. No beef. No onion. No peas.

Please, he said. No peas.


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Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

Sweet potato topped shepherd's pie.

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 dark experience and that if we only embrace  The Lesson, we'll be free.

Well, I can answer that. 

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Good Karma Meatloaf Pie with Dill Mashed Potato Crust

Got leftover meatloaf? Make a shepherd's pie, Baby

 

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.

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Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

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

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.

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