Whole30 Day 8 Dinner: When you’ve only go two mouths to feed and six beautiful short ribs to braise, what do you do? Get creative! I split my braised short rib leftovers into two additional recipes. One being this well known casserole from my wife’s homeland, New England. Does New England have any other casserole besides Shepherd’s Pie? Back in East Texas, casseroles are a permanent part of the food pyramid, but I’m thinking this may be a Southern/Midwest anomaly.

Anyway, this recipe is super simple and quick to throw together, especially if you utilize leftover beef and mash. I added an undressed fresh side salad to my plate to lighten things up a bit, but that’s completely optional of course.

Short Rib Shepherd’s Pie

Whole30 Disclaimer: apparently sweet peas (garden peas, English peas whichever you prefer) aren’t Whole30 compliant. I get that they’re technically a legume however other green pod legumes such as sugar snap (a cross between a garden and snow pea I might add), snow peas, and green beans are allowed. I vehemently disagree with allowing all pod legumes but sweet peas. A three second Google search will provide abundant examples of sweet peas still in their green pods. If I open up sugar snaps and remove the peas from their pods for say a kid to eat or to specifically place them around my plate for a photo are they suddenly not compliant anymore? Either all green pod legumes are compliant or none of them should be. It’s a massive contradiction and unnecessarily confusing. I was just searching the Whole30 message thread and numerous people have consumed sweet/green/English peas without it ever occurring to them that the green vegetable was against the program, especially since the other green pod legumes are allowed. So technically, if you want to abide by the exact program rules do not add the sweet peas to this recipe as I did. Pick up a package of sugar snap peas and remove the peas from their pods instead (since that green pod legume is magically different) or use a totally different vegetable like Zucchini or Brussels Sprouts.

Ingredients: 

2 leftover braised Beef Short Ribs, shredded

1 Russet potato, cubed

1 cup leftover Rutabaga Parsnip Mash

1 cup Sweet Peas

1/2 Sweet Onion, diced

1/2 cup Shiitake Mushrooms, rough chopped

1/2 tsp Ghee

1/4 to 1/2 cup leftover Gravy

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a small to med sized casserole dish. Set aside.

In a med stock pot, add the potato, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Once fork tender, drain off the water and mash the potato until smooth. Add to the mashed potato the leftover Rutabaga Parsnip mash and stir until well combined. Taste, adjust seasonings, if necessary, then set aside.

In a cast iron skillet over med flame, heat the Ghee. Add in the onion and mushroom and saute until tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add in the shredded short ribs and cook until just heated through. Next, add in the peas and gravy and continue to cook until just warmed through, stirring occasionally, adding more or less gravy until desired consistency is reached. Turn off heat and set aside.

To assembly the Shepherd’s Pie layer the shredded short rib mixture evenly on the bottom of the oiled casserole dish then top with the mash, ensuring that the mash completely covers the beef mixture. Bake uncovered in the oven 45 min to an hour. Allow to rest about 5 minutes before serving.