Pot Roast & Butternut Squash Cottage Pie

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash, cubed
coarsely chopped leftover pot roast with sauce (roughly 4 cups)
2 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
2 tablespoons butter
1 bunch green onion, chopped
1/4 cup whole milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Boil the potatoes until fork-tender. Drain and mash in green onion, butter, and milk. Set aside.

Using a steamer pot or a steam basket, steam the squash until tender. Arrange in the bottom of a deep-dish pie plate. Set aside. Remove the slices of pot roast and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Stir in the pie plate. Add the remaining pot roast sauce and bits.

Stir and flatten with the back of a spoon. Top with an even layer of potato.

Bake 30-40 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

My thoughts:

I posted a recipe for a pot roast this week that we really loved. I had actually made it quite a few months ago and saved the recipe. At the time we had a ton of leftovers so I made this easy cottage pie. Normally we eat leftovers the next day for lunch but there is always a ton leftover from pot roast when you are a family of two so I must have had enough (or already had another lunch on tap) to make a whole second dinner out of it.

I don't quite remember the circumstance but I do remember eating this cottage pie (not shephard's pie as it is made with beef, not lamb) and really enjoying it! To bulk the dish up a bit (the 4 cups of leftovers that went into this was a mix of cubed beef, veggies and a lot of sauce), I added a layer of steamed butternut squash to the bottom of the pie plate. Then I covered the whole thing in a thick layer of mashed potatoes. If you had leftover mashed potatoes (or thoguht ahead and made extra on purpose) they'd be great to use here and would make the dish even quicker--just let them come a little closer to room temperature so they are easier to spread and add a couple extra minutes cooking time. The result is pure comfort food. Perfect for a cold, windy night.