cookin' at wurk...

...two days this week at another store here in town. Doing the same thing I normally would, just in a different location, with a weird oven, but everything else is pretty much the same. Only a few familiar faces: some on customers - who look at me and say: 'what are you doing here?', thinking they normally see me in a different place. And a few more familiar faces on fellow employees, who pretty much say the same thing, only thinking I must have requested a transfer, and will be doing the cooking demo. in that location. I was there on Monday, and will go back today, for another eight hours.

The recipe that ended last night was for shepherds' pie. I don't remember eating it as a child, so do not think my mom ever cooked it. It just was not in her repetitore (sp?) and probably not 'southern' enough.  A customer yesterday said it is very common in Barbados? I thought it sounded more Scottish or vaguely European. We need to do some research/googling on that to get info. about origins, right?

It was really good, but not my definition of shepherd's pie. I thought it was supposed to have left-over potatoes on the top. In fact, I lied through my teeth a dozen times or more, telling people that when I had it growing up, it always started with my mom having made too many mashed potatoes she needed to use/repurpose. My mom never made it - so that was a total fabrication. This one, the one 'perfected' in the test kitchen in Lakeland, had tater-tots on the bottom (put them in casserole dish and brown in oven, before pouring the rest of the stuff over), and a pie crust  on top. Causing lots of commentary from passers-by that the dish we were serving was what they thought of as 'pot pie'. Me too.

I told several folks about this wonderfully easy recipe I have for chicken pot pie that has a Bisquick crust. Not sure about the proportions, but I think equal parts: mayo., milk and baking mix. Just pour it over and let it bake. With what ever you want to combine under it: left over chicken, or roast, or any thing that needs to go, leftover assortment in the fridge along with a can of Veg-all, and some mushroom soup.