Meatball Shepherd'S Pie - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 lb extra lean ground beef
1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup fat skimmed de-fatted beef broth
1/2 cup dry sherry
2 1/2 cups packed peeled hot cooked potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
2 ounces low-fat cream cheese, at room temp
1/4 1/4 cup swiss cheese or 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
paprika
Brown Onion Gravy (use 1/2 cup)
2 cups onions
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons flour

Preparation

In a bowl, combine ground beef. parsley, mustard, flour, egg, salt, pepper, powder and beef broth. Blend with a fork.
In a 4-5 quart pan over high heat, bring brown onion gravy to a boil; add sherry and reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Quickly shape the beef mixture into 1 inch balls and drop into gravy. When all are in, cover and simmer until meatballs are no longer pink in the center, 10-12 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer meatballs (some of the onions will come too) to a bowl.
Boil gravy over high heat, stirring often, until reduced to about 2 cups, apprx 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and remove half to be used another time. Return meatballs and any accumulated juice to gravy, mix gently.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, with a mixer or potato masher, mash potatoes with 2 TBSP butter and the cream cheese until smooth. If desired add just enough beef broth to moisten potatoes to be able to squeeze them through a pastry bag. Add cheese, salt and pepper to taste.
Spray a shallow 3 1/2 to 4 quart casserole with cooking spray. Spread 2/3 of the potato mixture evenly over bottom. Add meatballs and gravy. Spoon remaining potato mixture decoratively around edge of meatball mixture or spoon into a pastry bag with 1 inch star or round tip and pipe around the edge. Sprinkle with paprika.
Bake pie in a 400\u00b0F oven until gravy is bubbling and potatoes are browned, 30-35 minutes.
Brown Onion Gravy:
Peel and finely chop 2 cups onions In a 4-5 quart pan over medium high heat, stir onions in 2 TBSP butter (I used 1) until richly browned, 13-15 minutes. Add 2 tsp sugar and stir for 2 more minutes. Add 3 TBSP flour and stir until browned 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 3 cups fat skimmed beef broth. Return to high heat and stir until boiling.