Inside-Out Shepherd’s Pie. The Contrast Podcast Festive Fifty 2014 Shortlist.

James , the incredible statsman for The Contrast Podcast, has already computed the shortlist for the 2014 Festive Fifty. (James, I think we need to design a cape for you.)

Here’s the list and instructions if you want to vote. Please do! It’s lots of fun to participate and ultimately record an intro to a song for the end of year podcast.

Here’s what’s next:

1. From the list below, pick your 10 favorite songs
2. Arrange them in order from 1-10 with 1 being your most favorite.
3. If you choose to, you can give a negative vote to any one song.
4. Share the list! Get more people to vote! Facebook! Blog! Twitter! Tumblr!

Please do all of the above by midnight Pacific on 11/25 (3 am 11/25 Eastern, 8 am 25/11 in the UK)
Also, yes, there are 106 choices. And yes, Bleachers has three songs to choose from. There was a tie, so I just included both of the songs in the tie.

Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Ages and Ages – Divisionary (Do The Right Thing)
alt-j – Left Hand Free
Alvvays – Archie, Marry Me
Amazing Snakeheads – Here It Comes Again
Amazing Snakeheads – Where Is My Knife
Angel Haze – Black Synagogue
Bastard Mountain – Drone Armatrading
Beck – Blue Moon
Big Data – Dangerous
Black Keys – Gotta Get Away
Bleachers – I Wanna Get Better
Bleachers – Reckless Love
Bleachers – Rollercoaster
Caribou – Can’t Do Without You
Caribou – Silver
Coldplay – Magic
Conor Oberst – Double Life
Damien Rice – I Don’t Want to Change You
Death Vessel – Mercury Dime
Dirty Elvis – I Hate Being Bipolar, It’s Awesome!
Elbow – My Sad Captains
Elbow – Colour Fields
Fink – Looking Too Closely
First Aid Kit – My Silver Lining
First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
FKA Twigs – Two Weeks
Flying Lotus – Never Catch Me
Future Islands – Seasons (Waiting on You)
Gavin Clark – Bermondsey Stutter
Gavin Clark – Low Are the Punches
Griswolds – Beware the Dog
Haley Bonar – Kill the Fun
Hookworms – On leaving
Hozier – Take Me to Church
Iggy Azaelea – Fancy
Interpol – My Desire
J Mascis – Me Again
Jack White – Lazaretto
Jamie T – Zombie
Jennifer Nettles – That Girl
Jenny Lewis – Just One of the Guys
Jenny Lewis – Late Bloomer
Joan as Police Woman – Holy City
Johnny Marr – Easy Money
Jonnie Common – Shark
Kate Tempest – Circles
King Creosote – Something to believe in
Kitten Pyramid – Uh Oh
KONGOS – Come With Me Now
Lana Del Rey – West Coast
LORN – THERE AIN’T NOTHING IT’S JUST PAIN AND THEN YER GONE
Mary Lambert: Dear One
Milky Chance – Stolen Dance
Mimicking Birds – Bloodlines
Morrissey – Kiss Me a Lot
Nathaniel Rateliff – Still Trying (Daytrotter Session, Daytrotter Studio, 4/19/2014)
New Pornographers – Champions of Red Wine
Panda Bear – Mr. Noah
Perfume Genius – Queen
Phantogram – Bill Murray
Phantogram – Fall In Love
Pharrell Williams – Happy
Pierces – Creation
Pierces – Kings
Pink Floyd – Things Left Unsaid
Pink Mountaintops – North Hollywood Microwaves
Pretty Reckless – Heaven Knows
Ray LaMontagne – Drive in Movies
Ray LaMontagne – Lavender
Real Estate – Past Lives
Real Estate – Talking Backwards
Rebel Light – Strangers
Roseanne Cash – When the Master Calls the Roll
Royal Blood – Figure It Out
School Of Language – A Smile Cracks
Shakey Graves – Dearly Departed
Sharon Van Etten – Every Time The Sun Comes Up
Shearwater – An Insular Life
Shilohs – Palm Readers (Daytrotter Session, Studio Paradiso, 2/28/2014)
Sinead O’Connor – Take Me To Church
Spoon – Knock Knock Knock
St. Vincent – Digital Witness
St. Vincent – Prince Johnny
Stars – No Better Place
Stars – No One is Lost
Sun Kil Moon – Carissa
Taylor Swift – Shake It Off
Temples – Shelter Song
Thom Yorke – A Brain In A Bottle
Thom Yorke – The Mother Lode
Tiny Ruins – Me at the Museum, You at the Winter Gardens
Ty Segall – Feel
Ty Segall – Manipulator
Typhoon – IJswater
U2 – Raised By Wolves
Vance Joy – Mess is Mine
Vance Joy – Riptide
War on Drugs – An Ocean Between the Waves
War on Drugs – Red Eyes
Warpaint – Love Is To Die
Water Liars – Swannanoa
Wild Beasts – Mecca
Winged Victory for the Sullen – Atomos VII
Withered Hand – Horseshoe
Wye Oak – Shriek

On to the food!

I absolutely love the whimsical presentation of this super easy recipe for Inside-Out Shepherd’s Pie. Slices of garlic toast are topped with creamy mashed potatoes and hearty beef patties. The “pie” then gets a generous ladle of beef and mushroom gravy. Fun and tasty.

Inside-Out Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground chuck
2 tablespoons steak sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
8-ounces baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1½ cups beef broth
1 (.87-ounce) package brown gravy mix
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
6 slices frozen garlic Texas toast, cooked according to package directions
Mashed Potatoes And Peas (recipe follows)

Directions:

1. Mix together the ground chuck, steak sauce, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Shape the mixture into six patties.

2. Cook the patties over medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes per side in a large skillet, until browned. Remove patties to a plate and keep warm. Reduce the heat to medium.

3. Drain off all but 1 tablespoon of drippings. Add the mushrooms, onion and garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in the broth, gravy mix and thyme.

4. Return the patties to the skillet and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the gravy is thickened.

5. Top each slice of toast with mashed potatoes, a beef patty and some onion and mushroom gravy.

Serves 6

Mashed Potatoes And Peas

Ingredients:

1 (24-ounce) package frozen steam and mash potatoes or refrigerated mashed potatoes, heated according to package directions
½ cup milk
½ cup sour cream
2 Tbs butter
1 cup frozen peas, cooked according to package directions
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Combine the potatoes, milk, sour cream and butter in a large bowl. Mash to desired consistency.

2. Fold in the peas, cheese and salt.

Recipes from Cooking With Paula Deen Magazine

I was very pleased to see that 4 of my top 10 songs of 2014 made the Festive Fifty shortlist. I’m still tweaking my list as I keep hearing new music and will definitely share it with you in December.

Right now my number one song of 2014 is ‘Horseshoe’ by Withered Hand. I love everything by Dan Willson, so no surprise that the album “New Gods” captured my heart. His voice makes me melt.