Townhouse pie

If shepherd's pie is made with lamb, and cottage pie is made with beef, then a beef and au gratin casserole must be a townhouse pie...or an explosion as my son called it.

My dad loves shepherd's pie - I don't, I always dreaded when my mom would make it...but my sister-in-law asked me about it the other day saying that a co-worker made shepherd's pie with broccoli and cheese.  I thought that sounded interesting so I figured I'd take a stab, but with potatoes au gratin instead of mashed. 

As I was thinking about the process, it dawned on me that I would have to partially cook the potatoes before baking or make them super thin.  I chose to boil them (sliced with skins on) for about 7 minutes.  I browned 1 lb of grass-fed beef, added onions, the remnants of a tomato, worcestershire sauce, seasonings, then added a 1lb bag of TJs frozen Organic Foursome (the concoction smelled like meatloaf). 

I put that in the bottom of a dish and mixed up half-and-half (didn't have any heavy cream or evaporated milk), flour, garlic, and a little seasoning.  I layered the potatoes on the meat, poured the sauce over and started wondering how it was going to turn out...was it going to be attractive, what kind of consistency, I was a little concerned about the final product. 

As it baked and the aroma filled the house,I desperately wanted to taste it.  It was delicious and comforting...needless to say - the family devoured it.