In most people’s minds comfort food is all about stick-to-your-ribs heavy food that isn’t necessarily good for you. One of my favourite comfort foods in the cold depths of winter is a hearty and healthy shepherd’s pie; I’ve experimented with a few vegetarian versions and looked at using different toppings such as cauliflower mash and root vegetable mash, all turned out delicious.
Last week I was out of root vegetables to make my usual shepherd’s pie topping, mashed carrots really didn’t appeal to me or Alfie. What I did have lots of though is sweet potatoes and we really enjoy sweet potato fries in our house to regular potato fries. I wasn’t sure how the traditional meat filling of the shepherd’s pie would hold up next to the more exotic sweet potato, so I decided to put my own sunshine spin on it and give it a Caribbean edge.
- 400 g lamb mince (you could use beef, turkey, pork, chicken or soya mince)
- 430 g pasata
- Thumb size peice of grated ginger
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 2 tsp coconut sugar
- 3 carrots diced
- 3 celery sticks
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
- 1 tsp all spice
- 1 tsp all purpose seasoning
- juice of half a lime
- Enough sweet potato mash to cover
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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
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In a saucepan fry off the red onion and the mince until cooked through.
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Add the celery, carrots, ginger, garlic and spices and cook for a further 3 minutes stirring now and then.
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Pour in the pasata, lime juice and coconut sugar, stir and simmer for 15 minutes.
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Transfer the pie filling into an oven proof dish and allow to cool a little before adding the sweet potato mash topping.
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Spread the already prepared sweet potato mash topping over the filling.
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Cook in the oven for at least 30 minutes or until the filling is bubbling.
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Serve with your favourite accompaniments and enjoy!
Generally, like lots of cuisines, Caribbean food follows the sweet, sour and hot rule. In this dish, you have the sweet from the coconut sugar (you could you brown sugar), the sour from the lime juice and the hot (depending on your spiceometer) from the dried chilli flakes. All three ingredients add a lovely balance of flavours to the meat filling.
I’ve used lamb mince in this dish, which is typical of a shepherd’s pie, but you could use beef, turkey, chicken and even pork mince. To make this a vegetarian meal then you could use soya mince or add beans and lentils, just like my Lentil and Vegetable Cottage Pie with Root Vegetable Mash recipe. The best thing about this dish is that there are always leftovers, we had enough for another 2 servings the next day. Happy cooking!
Do you like fusion food? Which of your favourite dishes would you like to put a culinary spin on?
Love this – great twist on a classic will definitely be adding this to my meal plan next week:)
Thanks Kezia! I think it’s always nice to change up a classic dish every now and then. 🙂
Woohoo, I’m so excited to see this! I’ve been meaning to make just a bog standard cottage pie with sweet potato mash or celeriac mash for a while now but I love the twist you’ve given to this and it’s definitely made me want to hurry up and attempt it. It looks so scrum my and comforting, I’ll let you know how it goes when I eventually try it!
She’s So Lucy
Awww thanks Lucy! I really hope you like it as it’s become a bit of a favourite in my house. Let me know how you get on.
I love how colourful the sweet potato mash is on the top, yum!
It looks so bright and colourful!
Caribbean shepherds pie? I am loving the sound of this! I have never eaten this when we have been in the Caribbean, but I wish I had of. Anything with a Caribbean twist is good with me!
Thanks Dannii! To be fair, I don’t think it’s really a dish out there it’s just something I came up with.
ooh this looks delicious. i do like a nice shepherds pie in winter
Thanks Michelle.
I adore sweet potato mash. I love adding some cream cheese to it too to make it extra creamy.
Yum, I like the tip on adding cream cheese to the mash, must try that next time.
What a lovely, hearty dish, when the weather is cold this is just what is needed.
#UKBloggers
Thank you. Yes, it’s perfect on a cold day.
I love shepherds pie this is a nice twist , my daighter would like this as she likes her mash like this anyway x
Shepherd’s pie is a great way to sneak in lots of veggies for the kids. 🙂
What a cool recipe! I made a lentils shepherd’s pie recently so I bet I could swap the lentils in here, too. The flavors sound awesome in this!
You definitley could swap the meat for lentils Liz, I bet that would taste amazing.