Shepard's Pie

Shepard’s Pie

This will look like the traditional recipe when it comes out of the oven, but the topping is made from pureed turnips and cauliflower flavored with butter!

You can steam the veg's for the topping while you make the filling.

FOR THE FILLING

1 medium onion - 1/2 inch diced

3 garlic cloves - crushed and minced

4 ribs celery - 1/2 inch diced

1 cup green Beans - chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 small turnip - 1/2 inch diced or 1 small rutabega, diced+steamed 15 minutes

*1 lb ground beef, turkey, lamb or other meat

1 roma tomato - diced (optional)

3 tablespoons Water

1/2 teaspoon margoram - optional

sea salt & pepper to taste

*rutabegas take longer to cook than all the other ingredients for the filling so its important to pre-cook it. In a large skillet with lid: heat the water over medium flame.

Add ground beef and cook until getting crumbly, breaking it up with your spoon. Add all the diced veggies and stir well to combine. Cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes, add a little water if you need to so that they can actually simmer. just enough so there's some liquid bubbling, veg's shouldn't be swimming.

Add marjoram, sea salt & pepper to taste and pour into 9x9 baking dish, or a large pie dish.

FOR THE TOPPING

1 large head cauliflower - chopped

2 medium turnips, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes

butter, sea salt & pepper to taste

Steam the cauliflower and turnips until very soft. Put them into a Cuisinart fitted with the double blade and puree with some butter -2 or 3 tablespoons, salt & pepper to taste. If you don’t have a Cuisinart, mash them with a potato masher, they will be a bit more lumpy, but just as good! Spoon the cauliflower mixture over the top of the beef mixture, gently spreading it to cover all the way to the edges of the dish. Sprinkle with a few dashes of paprika and place on a baking sheet (to catch any drips so as not to mess up your oven). Place into a preheated 350 oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or just until you can see it getting bubbly, and the edges of the topping are a bit browned. Every oven is different, so its a good idea to check it after 10 minutes! Then keep an eye on it. A great winter warmer, and it really is quite easy once you've diced & chopped... Lovely with some chopped parsley on top for garnish.