Prepared Shepherd's pie just before baking
I really like Shepherd’s Pie, but in following with my endeavour to maintain a healthier Primal lifestyle I didn’t want to use potato for the topping. After searching online I found this awesome recipe. I have made some minor changes, but it’s pretty much the same and it is delicious!
Try this and I promise you won’t want to go back to boring mince beef, peas, carrot and potato mash Shepherd’s pie!
Shepherd’s Pie with Spiced Parsnip Mash
For the topping
- 4-5 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 Tbs butter
- Tsp ground cumin
- 2 Tsp ground coriander seed
When parsnips are ready to be mashed add
- 1 Tbs Butter
- 1/4 cup of double cream
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the filling
- 2 leeks, sliced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 Tbs butter
- 6 cup mushrooms or any mushrooms of your choice, sliced
- 500g lamb mince
- 2 Tsp Arrowroot flour
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 250ml vegetable stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig thyme (or Tsp dried thyme)
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Preparation method
The topping
- Simmer the parsnips in water until tender – about fifteen to twenty minutes.
- While they are cooking, fry the onions in the butter over a moderate heat until soft and translucent.
- Stir in the spices and continue cooking until fragrant.
- Drain the parsnips. Add the sauteed onion, butter, cream, salt and freshly ground black pepper and blend it up with a bamix until you get a nice smoothe and creamy consistancy.
The pie filling
- In a large pan, cook the chopped leeks (or onions if you can’t get any leeks) and the diced carrot with the butter until they are soft and golden.
- Add the sliced mushrooms, and cook for a further five minutes, then stir in the minced meat, bay leaf and thyme sprig. Try not to stir the meat up too much as you want it to brown a little.
- Add the arrowroot flour and the tomato paste. Continue to cook, stirring regularly for about five minutes.
- Pour on the hot stock, the Worcestershire sauce, salt and black pepper, turn down the heat and leave to simmer gently for 25-30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.
- Scoop the mixture into a large baking dish and the evenly spread the mashed parsnip over the top. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.