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Easy Shepherd's Pie with Garlic Romano Potatoes

"This is a very easy shepherd's (cottage) pie that's topped with wonderful garlic and Romano potatoes. You can change the ingredients to add almost anything you like. Kids love this, and it's even better after sitting for a day. You should have most of the ingredients on hand so no trips to the grocery! You can substitute any cheese for the Romano, as well."

This recipe’s ingredient list has no crust or pastry, so it bakes more like a fruit dish than a pastry pie.

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Why it works: Milk and romano cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 52 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

8 servings
Prep15 min
Cook45 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Cut the red potatoes into chunks, place them in a pan of boiling water, and simmer about 12 minutes until tender.

  2. Drain the potatoes and mash them with the milk, minced garlic, salt and half the butter. Stir in half the grated Romano cheese until smooth.

  3. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef and chopped onion for about 8 minutes, breaking up the meat, until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F (71°C). Drain off excess fat.

  4. Stir the dried rosemary, dried basil, dried oregano, tomato sauce, drained diced tomatoes and drained mixed vegetables into the beef. Simmer over low heat for about 8 minutes.

  5. Spread the beef mixture in a 9x13-inch (23x33 cm) baking dish. Spoon the mashed potatoes over the top and spread evenly.

  6. Sprinkle the remaining Romano cheese over the potatoes and drizzle with the remaining butter, melted. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden and bubbling at the edges, then serve.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Milk + romano cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together52 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Rosemary + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together352 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Basil + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Onion + potatotop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, rosemary, tomato, sauce, potato, butter):

  1. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  2. Thymebetter flavor fit
  3. Celerybetter flavor fit
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, rosemary, tomato, sauce, potato, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).