Here’s a delicious twist to a warm and cozy comfort food: shepherd’s pie. This recipe will definitely give you that big hug from the inside, but I’ve lightened it up and added some more vegetables for a bigger nutritional punch.
This isn’t a dish I typically make, and I didn’t eat it growing up, but it was a special request I got from my in-laws who came to visit my husband and I at our new house in North Carolina last weekend! I love when family and friends come down to visit so we can show them our new life down here.
We had a great time, lots of sight seeing and delicious food! One of the places we brought them was to our dog Maddie’s French Bulldog play group so they could watch all of the pups run around and play together (Maddie’s favorite game is “chase me” so she likes to tease the other dogs so they’ll go after her!).
We also took them to Fahrenheit, this really pretty restaurant/bar in uptown Charlotte that overlooks the city. It has beautiful views and delicious drinks!
On Sunday before the big Patriots playoff game (you know, “Deflategate”) I stepped out for a bit with my mom to speak at the Novant Health & Fitness Expo about how to look and feel great naturally with a clean eating cleanse. We did a smoothie demo at the end and gave away samples, it was a lot of fun!
Then for dinner that night I made the super healthy shepherd’s pie! After eating out a LOT over the prior couple of days, my body was craving some good home cooking and lots of vegetables.
You can really throw in there whatever veggies you would like. It’s a great way to use leftovers or a bunch of produce that’s about to go bad. You really can’t mess it up.
I’m sure when I make it again it will come out different based on what I have on hand, but this was a super tasty meal to wash down a big Patriots game victory with!
- 1 lb ground organic turkey or grass-fed meat
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 medium carrots, diced
- 3 ribs celery, diced
- 4 leaves kale, diced
- 1/4 cup mushrooms, diced
- 1 small zucchini, diced
- 1/4 cup peas (I use frozen)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos (soy sauce replacement)
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot flour (corn starch replacement)
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 2 sprigs rosemary, finely diced
- 2 sprigs thyme, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 white yams, peeled, chopped into 2" pieces (or potatoes if you can't find them)
- 1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 3 tablespoons ghee (or grass-fed butter)
- 1/4-1/2 cup non-dairy milk
- Additional salt/pepper to taste
- Preheat oven broiler.
- Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a large pot, then drop a steamer basket into the pot. Add the yams, place a lid on top, turn heat down to medium, and then steam the yams for 5 minutes.
- Add cauliflower florets on top of the potatoes, place lid back on top, then steam for another 10-15 minutes or until cauliflower and potatoes are very tender.
- Empty the water from the pot and add the cooked yams and cauliflower. Also, add the ghee, "milk," and salt/pepper to taste. I started by breaking everything up with a potato masher tool, then used my hand mixer to whip them up. This can also be done using an immersion hand blender or a food processor. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, preheat a large oven-safe skillet to medium with a tablespoon of your favorite oil to cook with (I love coconut oil). Add the onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and zucchini and cover, stirring occasionally, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the meat, kale, rosemary, thyme, and garlic, and cook another 5 minutes or so, until the meat has just cooked through.
- Add tomato paste, coconut aminos, arrowroot flour and chicken broth to the skillet then bring to a boil. Lower heat then simmer until sauce has thickened, 5-6 minutes. Add the peas, then salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour the yam/cauliflower mixture over the meat/vegetable mixture and smooth with a spatula. Optional: brush on a tablespoon of melted butter or ghee for browning.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown on top. Allow to cool for a few minutes then enjoy!
Thanks for the recipe, Sam and the update on the family visit; Glad you and your Mom had a chance to present at the seminar!
Sure thing Ken! Try it out and let me know what you think 🙂
This recipe came out delicious. I made the following changes because of what I had on-hand:
Parsnips for the white yams (3 small steamed)
Skipped the non-dairy milk
1 tsp ea dried rosemary and dried thyme for the fresh herbs – I’d increase this by 1/2 tsp each
6 cloves garlic
Ground turkey
Coconut Secrets coconut aminos
Fresh peas
I sauted the veggies as listed, but then I dumped them into a bowl, added a little more coconut oil to the skillet, then browned the ground turkey.
I added a little more coconut oil and cooked the herbs and tomato paste in it for a few minutes. Same for the garlic.
Then I put the filling ingredients back into the skillet.
I baked for 20 minutes as listed. I would try baking a few minutes longer so the carrots would be a little softer.
I froze the leftovers. Not sure how they will reheat. I might try
making the recipe in two oven-proof containers because when saving portions stirred the up.
Very tasty. A real winner of a recipe that i will make again and again.
Update 3/2/16: I continue to love this recipe. It freezes and reheats in my toaster oven really well. I also have frozen the parsnip/cauliflower topping since I can’t always find parsnips. This works great, especially when I don’t have a lot of time to put together the meal. I have also increased the amount of veggies while keeping the other measurements the same. Yum!!!
I’m so glad!! I didn’t see this comment until today – I apologize for not responding sooner!
Hi Samantha. No worries. I’m glad you saw my feedback. This really is a delicious recipe that has a lot of flexibility. Kudos to you!!