Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

We love sweet potatoes and they are super nutritional. Usually I’ll bake or cube & roast them, so I was very pleased to find this hearty recipe in Family Circle‘s January 2013 issue. A perfect winter dish, warming you from the inside out…

Recipe of the Week: Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

2-1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2″ pieces
1/4 c. 1% milk
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1-1/2 lbs. natural Angus ground beef
2 medium carrots, finely diced
2 celery sticks, finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
2 tbsp. oat or all purpose flour
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 c. organic reduced-sodium beef broth
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen peas
1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:  Preheat oven to 375 F.
1. Add potatoes to a dutch oven and cover with 1 ” of cold water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 10 minutes or until soft. Drain and return to pot. Add milk, 2 tbsp. of the butter, 1/2 tsp. of the salt and 1/4 tsp. of the pepper. Mash until smooth, cover, and set aside.
2. While the potatoes cook, add 1 tbsp. of butter to a large saute pan over medium heat. Stir in beef, breaking apart with a spoon. Add carrots, celery, and onion. Cook 15 minutes until veggies are softened. Stir in flour; cook 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste, beef broth, and peas. Bring to a simmer and cook 3 minutes, until liquid is slightly thickened and peas are thawed. Stir in remaining salt and pepper, the thyme and the rosemary.
3. Spoon meat and veggie mixture into a 13″ x 9″ baking dish, spreading evenly. Top with the mashed potatoes, smoothing them over the mixture but leaving a 1″ border around the edge. Bake at 375 for 30 to 35 minutes or until pie is bubbling.
4. Serve with a salad and some rolls or bread.

Option: Thoroughly scrub potatoes, remove ends and brown spots, but leave skin on for more nutrition.

*****

Thought of the Week: As I picked up a couple magazines this week, I wondered if we boomers will be the last generation of hands-on readers? If by the time we have become history, there will be no more walk-in bookstores or sidewalk newspaper/magazine stalls? If public libraries could be the last refuge for actual paperized books? It greatly saddens me that this will, in all probability, be the future of reading. Yes, trees will be saved, but to think of everything being digitized and electronically viewed on a screen turns my stomach. Although I am thrilled with this technological ability to write and be read online all over the world, I look forward every night to picking up a real book from my nightstand…Danny, however, has a Kindle Fire. Traitor!

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