Shepherd's Pie Has A Posse

Okay, this one's a make-ahead-and-bring-with-you lunch. You may have seen our insanely easy step-by-step how-to guide on making perfect lasagna. If you thought that was too hard: A. We applaud you. Seriously, wow. And B: Try this beyond easy recipe for shepherd's pie first. It's also a layered casserole-type dish, but instead of multiple layers, it only has two.

Here are various moods and situations shepherd's pie geniunely improves:

• It's raining/too cold/too sunny and I don't feel like leaving the office to get sub-par food.
• My buddy just got engaged to this chick who totally sucks.
• There's something in my eye/shoe/keyboard/apartment I can't get out.
• I'm hungry.
• I don't know what to eat.
• It's lunchtime.

But Food Republic, shepherd's pie isn't classy enough for me to bring to work. Glad you mentioned it! There's a solution if anyone brings up the fact that while you have brought your own home-cooked lunch and it does in fact smell delicious, your display of common peasant food is loathsome. Smack that person in the face. And then say it's parmentier hachis, France's version of this English comfort food staple. Yes it's sometimes housing duck confit, a crime that's never punishable, but it's still just good honest food.

Best of all, shepherd's pie layers perfectly into a tupperware of any shape or size and reheats perfectly. Insider tip: if you pack the mashed potatoes tightly over the meat and refrigerate it, it forms a seal that keeps the meat in place, and the "pie" aspect intact. Riveting, right?