[Sca-cooks] Shepherd's Pie

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Never had it in my youth. Not the sort of thing that would have been 
served in my parents' house, except maybe when my parents were out, 
and i don't think it was in the maid's repertoire. We had canned 
salmon croquettes with mashed potatoes - took me years to be able to 
face a can of salmon after that.

I've never made it myself, although i confess i have bought 
cosmically natural organic frozen versions to feed me and my daughter 
- she was a latch key kid - i'd leave in the morning around 7:15 and 
get home from work around 6:30 PM - and i toss a couple of these 
puppies in the oven - oh, yeah, and they were vegetarian, too. (Do 
Androids Dream of Tofu Sheep?)

A couple weeks ago at our cast party for the Golden Stag Players 
after our performance of a play that was almost 2 hours long at 
Twelfth Night (and afterwards folks kept coming up to us and telling 
us how funny we were), one of the owners of the house we were in - 
who is from northern England - made shepherds pie - i didn't notice 
what all went into it - ground red meat of some sort, onions, 
Worcestershire sauce, some other vegetables (i don't recall which, 
but all fresh), topped with mashed potatoes - there may will have 
been a little grated cheese.

I can write to him and find out what he puts in his...

BTW, the play was "The Braggart Soldier" (title in translation) by 
Plautus, a 2nd century BCE Roman playwright whose works inspired 
Commedia del'Arte, Shakespeare, and "A Funny Thing Happened to Me on 
the Way to the Forum". I had, i think, the third largest part, as the 
confuddled slave. The fellow with the longest part was practically on 
stage continuously from the beginning of the play - he was only gone 
for the last two scenes. He says he needs a mental enema to get the 
play out of his head...

Anahita