My My Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s Pie is a delicious comfort food; it’s warming and filling and will leave you pleasantly satisfied on cold winter nights. It’s great for freezing and makes delicious leftovers too. Shepherd's Pie is an old English dish, traditionally made with lamb or mutton. North Americans typically make Shepherd's Pie with beef.

The English (and Australians and New Zealanders) call the beef dish a "cottage pie". Shepherd's Pie is essentially a casserole, lined with cooked meat and vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes, and baked. The term ‘cottage pie’ dates back to 1791 when the potato was introduced as an affordable edible crop to the poor.

“Cottage" relates to the modest dwellings typically utilized by rural workers at that time. In early cookery books, Shepherd's Pie was simply leftover roasted meat of any kind added to a pie dish lined with mashed potato. Mashed potato was also used as a decorative pie crust on top.

Preparing an original shepherd’s pie is remarkably easy. You can make it with ground beef, chopped roast beef, ground turkey, chopped turkey, ground lamb, chopped lamb or even lentils as a meat alternative. Pies range from spicy to crispy to cheesy; all are possible.

Top your pie with buttery cheesy mashed potatoes, maple syrup yams or sweet potatoes. Ground lean turkey with yams is our favorite and much lighter with our hips and thighs in mind.

Original ingredients make this dish delightful and personal, so get creative and add your favorite culinary surprises to this popular pie!

Bonus, this dish is gluten free!!!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Recipe can be cut in half.

My My Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil or coconut oil
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 cup celery diced
• 1cup carrots diced
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 3 medium sized tomatoes diced
• 2 lbs ground turkey meat (preferably 1lb of white and 1lb of dark)
• 1/2 cup filtered water
• 2 cups frozen vegetables (or favorite individual veggies)
• 2 tsp crushed chilies (optional)
• ¼ cup Bragg’s Aminos or Tamari sauce (wheat free)
• 2 Tbsp poultry seasoning
• Crushed black pepper to taste

Topping

• 2 Large yams cooked and mashed (approximately 12 cups)
• Add 4 Tbsp unsalted butter and 1/2 cup maple syrup or unpasteurized honey.
• Mash together, add sea salt and crushed pepper to taste.

Instructions

• Prepare yams.
• Cover a large deep pan with a thin film of oil.
• On medium heat add onions, celery, carrots and garlic, use spatula to toss.
• Sauté for approximately 3 minutes, then add tomatoes.
• Continue to simmer for another 2 minutes until tomatoes are soft.
• Add meat with water and seasonings.
• Let simmer for 15 minutes, then add the mixed vegetables to the mixture and continue to simmer for 5 minutes.

The meat should be browned with a little liquid the bottom. Transfer the meat mixture to a rectangular deep dish pan. Add the yam mixture by the spoonful to the top of the meat mixture. When all of the yam mixture is spooned on top of meat mixture, use a fork and spread the yams evenly over the meat. Finish with a crisscross mark across the top. Top with dollops of unsalted butter evenly over the yams.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the butter on top of the yams has melted and slightly browned. Let stand for 10 minutes. Use a flipper to cut into large squares. Enjoy!

Serving suggestions

• For beef: add 2 Tbsp Mrs. Dash (original, salt free)
• For lamb: add 2 Tbsp Thyme or Rosemary
• For vegetarian: add 6 cups cooked lentils with 1 Tbsp Curry and Serve with large green salad.

Enjoy!

Bon Appetite!...TKH