It’s spring here in Alberta but you wouldn’t know it from the weather. One day I’m barbecuing and sunbathing and the next day I’m huddling under blankets watching it snow. So sue me if I’ve been craving comfort food when every other blog is getting excited about spring dishes.

Shepherds Pie is one of my favorite weekday meals to throw together when I’m craving hearty food and my pantry and imagination aren’t up to something fancy. The items are usually staples I have around the house and the whole dish takes about 30 minutes to prepare, leaving you able to get cleaned up while it bakes. Since we are wedding waistline conscious over here, upping the filling factor by hiding that cauliflower in the potato and using lighter ingredients helps us eat those larger portions for less.

Serves 4 generous or 6 smaller portions.
-olive oil spray
-454 grams of ground sirloin or ground turkey (usually one package)
-1 cup of diced white onion
-2 tsp minced garlic
-3 tsp worcestershire sauce
-3 tbls tomato paste
-2 tsp dried parsley
-1/2 tsp dried rosemary
-1/2 tsp ground thyme
-salt to taste
-couple cracks of pepper
-2 cup of beef broth
-400 grams of frozen peas and carrots, cooked (about 2.5 cups)
-heaping 1/2 tsp cornstarch (optional)
-2 container (340 grams) of frozen cauliflower rice
-800 grams of yellow potatoes (about 5 very large potatoes or 7 medium potatoes)
-45 grams of light becel or any other butter or margarine (about 3 level tablespoons)
-120 grams of light tex mex or other shredded cheese for topping (about 1.5 cups shredded)
-smoked paprika for garnish

I prefer using weights to cook because you just get a more accurate amount when using fresh ingredients. That being said, I know not everyone has a food scale so I have given the approximate amounts above in size as well.

First, get your potatoes going. Peel and chop into tiny chunks so they boil quickly. Start in cold water with lots of salt, at least a teaspoon, like you would pasta water. Boil until soft and fall off fork when poked. The time really depends on the size of your potato chunks, but probably about 15 minutes.

While those are boiling, over medium heat cook onion in oil until transulcent a couple of minutes, add garlic, stirring instantly so it doesn’t burn (burnt garlic ruins a dish) and cook stirring for another 30 seconds. Add in the meat and separate and cook another couple minutes. When you can’t see anymore pink, add thyme, parsley and rosemary and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and mix in and cook for about a minute as spices get fragrant. Add tomato paste stir well, and add worcestershire, stirring both in well before adding in cooked veggies and broth (I used low sodium, so adjust your salt for this) and cornstarch. I like to add the cornstarch to give it a thicker saucer consistency but it isn’t required. Bring to a boil, simmer and reduce until thick, probably about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. 

Take your boiled potatoes and cooked cauliflower rice and mash together with margarine and salt. I would never recommend what I am about to recommend for normal mashed potatoes because it causes them to have a glue consistency BUT it helps so much with the cauliflower mixture. I use my immersion blender to really mix the potatoes and cauliflower well.

Now that you have both component’s, you can cook this one of two ways. If I am cooking this for meal prep I like to pick up those take out metal containers from the dollar store (7.3×5.4×2 inches) and split it 4 ways. Place a quarter of the meat mixture in the bottom and smooth out and pack down, then top with a quarter of the potato mixture and smooth out. Then pop the lids on and pop into the fridge until ready to cook and eat. Otherwise, if you want to do one big casserole, use a 13×9 casserole dish, putting the meat mixture on the bottom and topping with the potato mixture.

When you are ready to cook, sprinkle the tops with cracked pepper and smoked paprika (trust me the smoked paprika makes a difference). Cook uncovered at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (out of the fridge add 5 to 10 minutes or until bubbly around the edges). Pull out of the oven and add your cheese and cook for a couple more minutes. Enjoy!

Note: This recipe is pretty versatile. I used a lot of convenience items, like frozen pre riced cauliflower, frozen peas and carrots, and pre shredded cheese to cut down on my prep time to make this an easy weekday meal. I also use lower calorie ingredients to make this lighter to suit our lifestyle. But if you have the time to peel and chop fresh carrot, or rice a head of cauliflower, go for it! If you want to use salted real butter instead of margarine, rock it! Leave a comment if you make any changes and let me know how they turn out 🙂