I tried Ina Garten's shepherd's pie recipe for St. Patrick's Day, and it was easy and delicious

I'm an Irish-American, but I don't remember ever eating shepherd's pie before now. The dish is traditional in the country and dates back to the late 1700s when peasant wives would make the dish to reuse leftovers from the week's Sunday roast dinner.

However, shepherd's pie has certainly made its way stateside. While Irish versions typically favor using lamb, many American versions use ground beef or turkey instead.

I decided to try making Ina Garten's recipe for shepherd's pie, which calls for ingredients like carrots, celery, white button mushrooms, ground turkey, and homemade mashed potatoes.

A bag of potatoes typically weighs around 5 pounds, but the recipe only called for 3 pounds of potatoes. I found, in the end, that this was the perfect amount to fully cover the pie.

I then simmered the potatoes until they were tender. This took about 20 minutes.

The recipe called for finely diced carrots, celery, and white button mushrooms. I decided to use a food processor to easily chop up my vegetables. I liked the end result and found this was the simplest way to prepare all the vegetables in seconds.

After my vegetables were chopped, I set them aside in a small bowl and turned my attention towards cooking the meat.

You can use practically any kind of ground meat you would like, or even plant-based ground meat if you're vegetarian. I ended up liking the choice of ground turkey since it made the very stick-to-your-bones meal a little bit lighter than if I had used meat with higher fat content.

Once the meat was fully cooked, I removed it from the pan with a slotted metal spoon and left behind the fat in the pan.

I chopped it using the food processor again and added it to the pan.

The smell of the ground turkey and onions filled my kitchen with a delicious aroma.

I also added flour to the pan, which created a paste-like combination.

I also added in tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, and frozen peas to the pan and continued cooking the filling until it reached a simmer.

I removed the bay leaves and herb sprigs before seasoning the mixture to taste and setting it aside.

After draining the potatoes, I hand-mashed them in the same pot I cooked them in. The recipe called for using a hand mixer, but I found a potato masher to be just as effective at making creamy mashed potatoes, especially after adding in a mixture of whole milk, almost a stick of Kerry Gold butter, and sour cream.

I seasoned them to taste and set them aside. I then preheated my oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

There was a perfect amount of filling to create a thick layer.

Despite never having made this dish before, I found the process easy to follow and not overwhelming at all. I also had a spoonful of mashed potatoes left over to taste and thought they were delicious.

I cooked the pie in the oven for about half an hour, although the recipe suggested it would be done after 20 minutes.

All ovens can vary slightly different with cook time, so I would suggest checking on the dish until you're happy with the result.

It didn't quite hold its shape, but I imagine it would have if I had let the pie sit for a minute or two before I served it. However, I simply couldn't resist diving in.

The mashed potatoes were creamy, the filling was perfectly seasoned, and the vegetables all came through in a medley of flavors. It was simple enough to be convenient for a winter weeknight meal, yet impressive enough for a dinner party or even game day.

The recipe also made enough to feed at least four people, with plenty of leftovers. In my book, this traditional recipe got a thumbs up.