Shepherd’s Pie

St. Patrick’s Day is the one holiday where it is perfectly acceptable to drink ’til you stumble, wear head-to-toe green with various accoutrements, and cook “boiled dinner”.  I am NOT a fan of boiled dinner.  In fact, I avoid it like the plague.  There is something about boiled cabbage that makes me gag.  Sorry to all the Irish lads and lassies who worship this tradition, but I’m going to roll with shepherd’s pie to celebrate.

Traditional Irish shepherd’s pie has all kinds of ingredients, including Guinness.  I made my own version using lighter ingredients to keep it healthy, and of course wheat free.  I swapped out the beef for ground turkey, the potato topping for mashed cauliflower and omitted the beer, though far be it from me to deny you a beer in your meal…..just don’t use green beer.  That would be odd.

Ingredients:

• 2 small heads of cauliflower, steamed (instructions for steaming here)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cup diced carrot 
• 10 oz package of peas (I only used half)
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (gluten free!!)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 small can tomato paste
• Parmigiano-reggiano cheese (optional)

Preheat your oven to 375°

Steam your cauliflower and then blend with butter and salt until well mashed.  You can do this in a food processor or by hand.  Exercise is good.

Heat olive oil in a shallow pan over medium high heat.  Add onion and carrot and saute until soft, approx. 8-10 minutes.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Add more oil to the pan if necessary and add ground turkey by breaking into bits.  Cook until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.  Next add oregano, Worcestershire sauce  onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt, pepper and tomato paste.  Stir to combine, then stir in peas, onion and carrots.  Cook another 2 minutes to heat through.

Transfer meat mixture to a baking dish and spread cauliflower mash on top of the meat.  Grate a light dusting of Parmigiano-reggiano cheese over the top and bake for 10 minutes.  Then kick start the broiler to brown the cheese for about two minutes until the top is niiiiice and golden.

Some good news for my lactose intolerant peeps: most hard aged cheeses such as Parm-regg and Grana Padano have no or very little lactose, so they are safe to enjoy!