This Shepherd's Pie, made with mashed potatoes and ground beef, seems as American as a dish can be. The English, however, have enjoyed making it for a long time, most often using ground lamb instead of beef.
And, if you would like a recipe for a chocolate brownie made with cocoa and boiling water, you've got it.
Ellen Sue Kraemer of Owings Mills and Brenda McDonald of Baltimore requested the pie recipe and received many responses. Chef Gilles Syglowski chose two recipes, both sent in by Sue Stein of Ellicott City.
Shepherd's Pie
Serves 6
2 pounds stew beef, cut into 1 inch pieces (2 pounds ground beef may be used)
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons oil
3/4 chopped onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup water
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 package (10 ounces), frozen peas and carrots, thawed
3 cups hot mashed potatoes
Dredge beef lightly in flour and shake off excess. In a large skillet heat oil and add beef. Brown well, remove and set aside. Add onion and celery and saute until tender, about 8 minutes. Return meat to skillet. Stir in water, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Simmer covered until meat is tender. about 1 hour. Add peas and carrots, cook covered for 10 minutes. Turn into a 2-quart casserole and cover with mashed potatoes. Bake in a 375-degree oven until potatoes are golden, about 20 minutes.
Shepherd's Pie
Serves 4
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups frozen cut green beans (optional)
1 (16-ounce) can cream of tomato soup
2 cups whipped potatoes
1/4 cup shredded American cheese
In a saucepan, saute onions and ground beef. Remove excess fat. Combine the beef, beans, pepper and soup. Place this mixture in a 2 1/2 -quart casserole and top with the whipped potatoes. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes.
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A chocolate brownie made with cocoa and boiling water was the request of Eva Whitley of Westminster. The chef chose a recipe from Gladys Napier of Essex who said it was Hershey's 5-minute recipe.
Fudge Brownies
3/4 cup Hershey baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup (exactly) hot boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Stir the cocoa and baking soda together. Blend in 1/3 cup vegetable oil and add the boiling water. Stir until mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs and remaining oil and stir until smooth. Add flour, vanilla and salt and blend. Pour into a lightly greased 13-by-9-inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or pour into two 8-inch square pans and bake at the same temperature for 30 to 32 minutes. Frost if desired.
Recipe Requests
* Cindy Smith of Street would like a recipe for a sauce that was delicious, she says, and which she had served over shrimp in ......TC German restaurant in the Georgetown area of Washington. She remembers the sauce as being called " 'esplanade,' but I am not sure of the spelling." The sauce she refers to may be a brown sauce called espagnole.
* Nancy Davie of Elkridge remembers when she was a "child living in Rochester, N.Y., and my father made Dutch candy he called a Sugarspec or something like that. It was a hard candy like toffee, made with brown sugar and vinegar. Relatives cannot come up with the recipe," she wrote.
* Ethel Coffey of Owensboro, Ky., writes that during World War II, sugar was rationed "but we had plenty of Karo syrup and I've lost my recipe for Syrup Pie. It tasted like a pecan pie but did not have nutes in it," she wrote.
* Patty Keeney of Kelso, Wash., has lost her recipe for Mardi Gras Party Cake which, she writes, is a yellow cake of heavier texture that has melted butterscotch chips in the mix and the top is frosted with a coconut/pecan frosting and the sides are whipped cream or whipped topping.
Chef Syglowski, with the help of chefs and students at the Baltimore International Culinary College, tested these recipes.
If you are looking for a recipe or can answer a request, maybe we can help. Write to Ellen Hawks, Recipe Finder, The Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278.
If you send in more than one recipe, put each on a separate page with your name, address and phone number. Please note the number of servings per recipe. We will test the first 12 recipes sent to us.