Shepherd’s Pie, With Sweet Potato Topping

Shepherd’s pie is defined as ” A meat pie baked in a crust of mashed potatoes”. This recipe differs from a “true” shepherd’s pie because the potatoes aren’t mashed, but whatever, this is 2012, I can make a Shepherd’s pie with potato slices if I want!

This is what it looks like after topping with potatoes.

Shepherd’s Pie, With Sweet Potato Topping

Ingredients

• 4 T garlic-infused extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• 1 medium zucchini, grated
• 5 pounds extra-lean ground beef (I used 96% lean)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 T fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 
1 large tomato, chopped
• 
2 cups tomato paste
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce **
• Dash of pepper
• 
2 T chopped parsley
• 1 large eggplant, cut lengthwise into thin slices
• 1 yellow pepper, cut into strips
• 1 sweet potato, thinly sliced **
• 1 t extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425. Heat 3 T garlic olive oil in a large pan and add carrot and zucchini. Cook for 2 minutes.
2. Add ground beef, bay leaf, and thyme. Cook for about 8-10 minutes (or until beef is browned).
3. Add tomato, Worcestershire, and tomato paste and cook uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove from heat, and add parsley and pepper to taste.
5. In a separate pan, heat the remaining 1 T garlic olive oil and cook eggplant and yellow pepper until softened (eggplant will turn golden brown).
6. Next, place the sweet potato slices on a baking pan and lightly spread with the 1 t extra virgin olive oil. Bake the sliced potato in the oven for 20 minutes.
7. Assemble the pie; a layer of the meat combination, next to the eggplant, then the meat combination, then the yellow pepper, and the last layer will be the remaining meat combination, then top with the cooked sweet potato slices.
8. Cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the inside is nice and bubbly. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes before tasting, it’s hot!

Notes

** If you are following a low FODMAPs diet, be aware that sweet potatoes need to be limited on a low FODMAPs diet, to about ¼-1/2 cup per sitting (which should be about the amount you get in one serving of this recipe). Some may be more sensitive than others. Also be careful because Worcestershire sauce tends to contain garlic and/or onion, but there is only 1 T in this entire recipe so it didn’t seem to cause me any problems.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: ⅙th of dish Calories: 299 Fat: 13.6 Saturated fat: 2.8 Carbohydrates: 27 Sugar: 12 Sodium: 185 Fiber: 8 Protein: 20 Cholesterol: 40

Even though I was FULL after eating one serving of this, I wanted more because it was SO GOOD! I actually added zero salts to this recipe and as you can see above the sodium was pretty low. That being said, Nick complained that it wasn’t salty enough. If you want to add some salt, be my guest, but personally I didn’t think it needed it. Nick still loved the dish and ate it without adding more salt

QUESTION: Have you ever made a Shepherd’s pie? Do you find that you like salt more or less than your significant other?