Sheppard's Pie - A Cheap and Hardy Meal

Sheppard's Pie is surprisingly delicious, as well as comforting, warm, and CHEAP!  It is also pretty convenient, as I tend to have all of the ingredients on hand, except for the meat.  This recipe is adapted from "The Cook's Book" by Jill Norman, which I got at a very discounted price from BMV (a used bookstore).

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 tbsp butter
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp thyme
2 tbsp basil
1 pound ground meat (they recommend lamb, but I used beef)
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
4 cups stock
1.5 cups frozen peas
1.5 cups frozen corn
3 cups mashed potatoes

Stirfry onion, carrots, and herbs in a small amount of oil and the 3 tbsp of butter.  Add in ground meat and cook until brown, while stirring and squishing out the lumps of meat.  Stir in worcestershire sauce and stock.  Cook until reduced to a sauce-like consistency, which takes about 20 minutes.  Add in peas and corn for the last 5 minutes of cooking.  Place mixture into large glass dish, and top with mashed potatoes.  Bake for 30 min at 375 degrees F.

I didn't actually cook the meat and stock mixture for that long, and had to drain out the stock.  Hence, the Sheppard's Pie fell apart, but was still delicious, and I had saved some time for bigger and better things.  Then Aki came home and made the stock into a gravy and we poured that on top, which was muchos delicious.