This is my version of shepherd's pie, with a secret ingredient!

It all started when I saw a recipe for shepherd's pie, a very fancy one: You had to cook beets and zucchini and cut it in a way to make an edible box for the pie. But when I looked at the recipe itself it was just: Sauté onions, add meat for the first layer, and cooked and mashed potatoes for the second layer. BORING!

So I decided to jazz it up.

Step 1: Prepare Your Potatoes

Prepare your potatoes. Cut potatoes into chunks, cover with water and add salt and a small garlic clove to it.
Bring to boil and then cook on a low flame until the potatoes can be pricked easily with a fork.
While the potatoes are cooking, sauté onions until browned.

Tip for creamy potatoes that doesn't include dairy (butter, milk) or margarine:

When you drain to potatoes, put your colander in a big bowl, or above a bowl in the sink, to catch the water. When mashing, add some water to the potatoes, until it's as creamy as you want it. Add the onions to the mashed potatoes.

Step 2: Cook Your Meat

Cut up an onion and sauté it until translucent. Add ground meat (I used beef) and spices: salt, pepper, sweet paprika, garlic granules and a bit of cumin. You can some tomato paste to hold it together.

Cook until the meat is browned and cooked through, stirring often. The meat can be made ahead.

Step 3: Layer Your Pie

Now we get to the secret ingredient!

So we begin laying our shepherd's pie into a baking dish, I use a pyrex dish with a lid, they are great for storage.

So layer the meat in the dish, nice and even on the bottom.
And now we add some deli meat! Yes that's right! And the more of a smokey taste it has, the more smokey your shepherd's pie will taste. Just cover your ground meat with slices of it.
Squirt some ketchup on top and spread it out, and finish off with the mashed potatoes.