Farmer's Pie (a remake of a French Dip)

I try hard not to let food go to waste and yet not subject my family to the same meal every night for two or three nights. So my goal is to make left overs into something new. I have come across a few recipes that lend themselves to this such as Swedish meatballs, I only use half of them since our family is so small and I save the other half for spaghetti and meatballs the next night. Cheese enchiladas with rice becomes chicken and fried rice, bean soup becomes re-fried beans and either tacos, burritos, haystacks or some other delicious Mexican dish. And lately roast beef or any leftover meat becomes a meat pie of one sort or another.

So when I came across a friends post that included a recipe for Beef French Dip Au Jus I saw an opportunity.

While shopping for my ingredients I found that pork was cheaper than beef and so I used pork. My husband found this to be a wonderful dish and I particularly loved it since French Dip sandwiches are one of my favorites.

The next day I had a ton of meat and au jus sauce leftover so I thought to myself, what can I make with this? and it came to me. . . can't be a Shepherd's pie (it's not lamb), can't be a Cottage pie (it's not beef) and my suggestion of a barn pie was met with looks of disgust and wise cracks about cow pies. So Dave dubbed it a Farmer's Pie.

Cook 4 or 5 potatoes, mash, season and set aside.

While those are cooking place a pound of carrots(I use baby carrots so I rarely cut them first) in a saucepan with about an inch of water, more or less, boil for 7-8 minutes or until just tender.

Using the leftover au jus sauce make a gravy you can use flour or cornstarch whichever you desire or have on hand. If you use corn starch I have found it best to mix it with about a quarter cup of your liquids before adding to your pot, this keeps it from becoming yucky clumps.

In a casserole dish mix your shredded pork and carrots pour gravy over top and smooth the mashed potatoes over that bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until bubbly.

This is now my husbands favorite meat pie and I can't wait to make it again. As for Emy, although she only picked at her French Dip sandwich she loved the pie, which is normal for her. She's not a big sandwich person unless it is PB&J.

So a big THANK YOU to The Happy Sanitarium for sharing her cooking genius.