Shepard's Pie remix
Serves about 4
Ingredients
3 Medium Sweet Potatoes
2-3 Tablespoons butter
Kosher Salt
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
1 lb ground beef
1 Large Onion or 2 medium - small onions, chopped up
3 cloves of minced garlic
1 handful of kale, ribs removed & chopped
1-2 Cups frozen mixed vegetables
Seasoning (basil, oregano, cayenne pepper, etc)
1 egg
Directions
Bake sweet potatoes in 450 degree oven for 40 minutes or until soft. Let cool a few minutes then remove the skin. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees. (Or peel & boil instead). Mash the potatoes with the butter and kosher salt.
In a skillet with some olive oil, brown the hamburger with some salt & cracked pepper. Remove from the skillet once cooked and put in an oven safe baking dish.
In the same skillet cook cook the onions for 2-3 minutes, then add the kale and garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Remove from skillet once cooked and add to the beef.
Once again, in the same skillet, cook the mixed vegetables then add to the meat mixture. Add the extra seasonings to your liking. Spread the sweet potatoes on top and bake for 30 minutes
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I grew up on a farm, and we were just back for a visit, naturally we came back with a cooler full of free frozen meat (score!) I asked my husband what we should cook first, and he suggested hamburger Shepard's Pie. (Real Shepard's pie is made from lamb, my parents don't grow lamb!)
Since we are trying to eat a bit healthier, I suggested sweet potato Shepard's Pie. It came together quiet nicely., It resembles traditional Shepard's pie, but is just a jazzed up, healthy version!
To start you will want to prep the veggies. Chop up a large onion, or 2 small onions, depends on the size of your onions and how much you like onions. You will want roughly a cup of onion, give or take. Grab a handful of kale and take out the vines and chop it up too. If you don't want to use kale, you can easily use spinach, or leave it out. But really, kale is a super food and extremely healthy, I'd suggest keeping it in!
The first step is to cook the sweet potatoes. I used 3 medium sized sweet potatoes and I baked them in the oven. After buying groceries and coming home I turned the oven up to 450 degrees, quick scrubbed the potatoes and threw them in. (Then turn the oven down to 350 degrees) It only took about 40 minutes until they were nice and soft. If you go this route, you can let them cool a bit, then peel them (baked sweet potatoes peel super easily, it literally comes right off). You could also peel then boil the potatoes. After they are peeled mash 'em up! My husband mashed them for me with a hand masher, but you could easily use an immersion blender or a mixer. while mashing the potatoes, put 2-3 tablespoons of butter in (or less if you want) and some kosher salt to your liking. Also, if you are like half of my family back at the farm, you don't like sweet potatoes. If that is the case, you can trade them for regular mashed potatoes.
Grab a skillet, put a little olive oil in and brown the hamburger. Add some salt & pepper to the meat to add some flavor. If you want to health it up more, you could easily switch it out for ground turkey, but again, beef is what we get for free, so it is what we use. Once the meat is cooked, take it it out of the pan and leave on paper towels to drain off the fat then toss into a cooking pan.
Next, to the skillet, add the onion (and a little more olive oil if needed) and cook for a couple of minutes, toss in the kale and garlic and cook for a couple of more minutes. The kale should be nice and wilted. BUT don't overcook it, burnt garlic is gross, nobody wants that. Once the onion, kale and garlic are cooked, put them in the pan with the hamburger.
In the same skillet pour in about a half bag of mixed frozen vegetables. You will want about 1-2 cups, or more if you have them. Of course, if you have fresh produce that is great too! Saute/cook the vegetables for a few minutes until they are cooked through. You don't want to cook them too much, mushy vegetables are never as good as non mushy vegetables.
After the vegetables are cooked, throw them in the pan with the meat, onions, garlic & kale. Stir it all up. Add an egg and mix it up more. The egg will help bind it together a bit and add some extra protein. If you leave the eggs out you should be fine too. Now add whatever seasonings you wish. I put a few cranks of the pepper grinder, a bit of table salt, basil, oregano and a couple dashed of cayenne pepper. Like most dishes, add flavor to your liking, feel free to mix it up with thyme, rosemary or other herbs.
Now, doesn't that just look great? So many colors in there! Take your sweet potatoes and dump 'em all on top. Spread them around so that all the top bits are covered with the sweet potato goodness! Pop the whole thing into a 350 degree oven and bake for about 30 minutes.
Okay, this stuff is seriously so good, I hope you all enjoy it!
