These remind us of something our mother or grandmother made us as a child. The trick is often taking these dishes and coming up with ideas on how to present them or modernize them. Shepherd’s Pie is a comfort food that not only tastes great but brings us back. The challenge is how do you present and serve it. It is just not a pretty dish. Once the first few people dive into the item on a buffet it is quite a mess. We’ve come up with a twist and an updated presentation. There are a variety of cupcake paper cups available. We’ve used the tulip shaped papers in red and white. We filled them with traditional mashed potato and vegetable but used a lamb and Guinness stew for a twist. We used these items for an event over the holidays and people raved about them. There are certainly more options for this comfort food update and well as many of the other classic dishes we remember.

-Chef W. Edward Dodds