Nothing says fun like a favorite food mash-up, and we’re so obsessed with our new and improved
shepherd’s pie recipe that we had to turn it into a potato skin. The saucy, red-wine spiked ground beef and vegetable mixture gets loaded into hollowed-out russet potatoes, topped with Parmesan mashed potatoes, and baked until all of the flavors mingle and meld. We like to suggest a few options for sides with our dinner recipes, but for this one, you honestly won’t need any—the potato makes this an all-in-one filling dinner.
To keep these from being too labor intensive, we recruited the heating power of a microwave to do some of the potato cooking. After a few pokes with a fork, they’ll cook through in about 15 to 20 minutes, as opposed to an hour in the oven. The microwave is a great shortcut for baked potatoes, but if you have a little more time and are a fan of extra fluffy mashed potatoes, drizzle the potatoes with oil and a sprinkle of salt, toss them in the oven at 450°, and bake for about an hour before scooping the flesh out. Whichever method you choose, speed your prep up a little bit by letting the potatoes cook while you chop up all of the vegetables for the filling.
Another way to guarantee ultra-fluffy mashed potatoes is to pass them through a ricer or food mill. Those are certainly less common pieces of kitchen equipment, but if you’ve got one, now is the time to put it to work.
There’s a good chance you’ll have leftover mashed potatoes after preparing these. You can save those for another day, or you can give our fried mashed potato balls a try. Are you on the hunt for more ideas for a surplus of spuds? Check out our list of 80+ potato recipes.
Did you try making these? Let us know how it went in the comments!