Shepherds pie soup

With all this snow and wind I thought it would be nice to have something warm and comforting. The buck I got this year gave me more than expected ground as he was a big boy, so i get to play around with some ideas beyond the burger and meatballs i normally go to.
here's a nice rendition of a nice warm up comfort food that actually is a great deer camp idea too for anyone heading out for the ML hunt as a group...

Shepherds pie soup (Keep in mind I feed a family of 7 so this is the amount I normally do up)

10 large potatoes, cubed and thrown into the instant pot (pressure cooker) for 15 minutes.

While those are pressure cooking, brown up 2 lbs of ground venison (or whatever you want really, goose would be good here too). Add in 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 cloves of garlic, dice 1 medium onion, 1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff is best), salt, pepper. brown the meat and caramelize the onions. I like to keep any of the fat but with venison there isn't alot of it as it is a leaner meat. You can throw in some rendered pork fat if you have any as well to add some flavour. you'll want the meat and onions to really brown well and be a bit on the sweet side.

after the potatoes are done release pressure and dont burn your face off. Because you only use about a cup of water, you can use it to mash the potatoes. add in some butter, sour cream and whatever else you use for mashed potatoes. Add in your meat mixture then add enough milk to create a soup base. I like mine thick so i guess i used about 5 cups. throw in some Italian seasoning and some rosemary. Make sure you do meat and then liquid or else you'll mess up your consistency.

then shred some old cheddar cheese. about 2 cups. throw that in the pot and slow cook it for about an hour. cook unpressured to allow the steam to release.

after that beep again open er up and giver a taste. My oldest child this morning left the house telling me where to go (gotta love those teen years) and was the first one to come to the pot to say "oh father, you are the best father I ever had".

Serve with buns and butter or whatever you like on the side.

Enjoy.

Sounds good and enjoy those years

That sounds about the same as the shepherd's pie I have been making. So I would bet it is very tasty. I use Havarti jalapeno cheese that I smoke in the potatoes, but same idea.