Fancy Fanned Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
This is essentially a classic Shepherd’s Pie but rather than roasting and mashing the potato top, I thought it would be easier and prettier to slice and fan a sweet potato! There are plenty of veggies in this recipe which makes it super nourishing and great for the kids, they wolfed it down! The filling will feed around 6 people but as there are 4 of us, I froze the leftovers to use another day for a pie or with pasta.
INGREDIENTS:
1 medium brown onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 celery stick, diced (I only had green capsicum so used that)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
600g best quality beef mince
Glug of worcestershire sauce
1 400g can whole peeled tomatoes or 5 peeled fresh tomatoes, chopped
3 Tbs buttermilk* (see notes if dairy free)
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
2 small sweet potatoes, sliced thinly
Few sprigs of thyme
Olive oil, salt and pepper
METHOD:
Heat some olive oil or ghee in a pan and fry off the onion, carrot and celery/capsicum until soft, around 8 minutes.
Add the garlic and beef mince and continue to cook until browned. Add worcestershire sauce, the canned or fresh tomatoes and buttermilk, and simmer for 30 minutes or so, adding a little water (or stock/broth if you have it) if needed.
While that’s simmering, preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
When ready, stir through the cup of peas and allow to cook for an other couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to an oven proof pan or pie dish so there’s around 2-3 cm of filling.
Thinly slice the sweet potatoes using a knife or mandolin and then arrange in an overlapping circle over the top. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle a few sprigs of thyme.
Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 30- 40 minutes, and remove the foil for the last five minutes so the sweet potato browns a little.
Serve with a simple salad and enjoy!
Notes:
If you can’t find small sweet potatoes, one medium sweet potato is also ok.
This dish can easily be dairy free by omitting the buttermilk.