Italian Shepards Pie

My Grandma always makes me a classic Shepard's Pie when she comes to visit! She knows that it's my favorite thing that she makes! So I decided that I wanted to make a Shepard's pie but mine never tastes like my grandma's so I wanted to do a new twist on the recipe. This recipe was totally just a thought and I decided to try it and it was a Success! Delicious Recipe... Ultimate comfort food.

Things you will Need:
1lbs Italian Sausage
1 White Onion
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Zucchini
1lbs crimini mushroom (or whatever mushroom you like)
2 cans Italian Style diced tomatoes
1 8oz tub of Ricotta cheese
2 cups Mozzarella cheese
1 Tbsp Minced garlic
3 Russet Potatoes
1/2 cup Milk
1 egg
Italian Bread Crumbs
1 bundle fresh basil
1 small can of sliced black olives (optional)

Preheat large skillet to medium and lightly coat the bottom of the pan with Olive Oil. Brown your Italian Sausage, once your sausage has browned add in two cans Italian style diced tomatoes, use the juice in the can. Add minced garlic, onion, black olives and fresh basil to mixture. Let cook for about ten minutes.

Mean while, roughly chop up the zucchini, red bell pepper, and mushrooms. Preheat a skillet to medium heat and coat with Olive oil. Season your veggies with Salt and Pepper and toss in the pan. Cook these veggies until the colors are vibrant, the veggies should still be a little crunchy.

Peel and boil your potatoes, you want to make these just as if you are making Mashed potatoes. Once your potatoes are tender enough to mash, strain, and mash! Add 1/2 cup of milk, 1 egg scrambled, this is an important step, please make sure that you are beating your egg in a separate bowl and slowly add into your potatoes. After you have incorporated the milk and egg, add the mozzarella cheese! These potatoes will be thick and hard to stir! You can see the gooey-ness of the cheese in the potatoes! It's delicious!

Pre-Heat the oven to 375 degrees

In a 9x13 casserole dish add your sauce to the bottom of the pan. Get your Ricotta and just take spoon-fulls and plop it into your sauce randomly. Enough that it will melt around the sauce and give it a creamy background. Layer the veggies on top of the sauce. Then layer your potatoes on top of your veggies. Spread them out so potatoes are covering all of your mixture. Top with Italian Bread Crumbs and Parmesan Cheese.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. This is so comforting and so delicious!