Lighten up Shepherd’s Pie with cauliflower
Lightened Shepherd’s Pie
Doing a recipe makeover on a tasty-but-lessthan-healthy dish is one of my favorite challenges.
Today, I'm taking on a classic with my Lightened Shepherd's Pie.
Typically, shepherd's pie is made from fattyand-filling lamb, which is turned into a flavorful slow-cooked heady stew, and is topped with creamy, cheesy mashed potatoes, made lush by a nice-sized helpings of butter and heavy cream. The resulting marriage is divine.
How close could I get to the original, while making some healthier ingredient swaps? The answer is: pretty close.
The changes were actually pretty simple, and the resulting recipe stayed quick enough to make this easily a weeknight meal.
I cooked the filling in a large oven-safe skillet, so rather than bother with transferring the filling to a new baking dish, I just topped it and baked it right there in the saute pan, saving on cleanup time, too. Frozen veggies also saved both prep time and money.
The biggest recipe change: I swapped out potatoes and used cauliflower puree instead.
I simmered frozen cauliflower and fresh garlic in broth (for flavor) until tender and then blended it up into a puree with just a touch of cream cheese instead of butter and cream.
The cream cheese added a marvelous silky texture and a hint of pleasantly-tangy cheesiness to the topping, so just a little bit of shredded cheese melted on top of the pie felt cheesier than it actually was.
I also tweaked the filling, relying on a bunch of vegetables more than meat for heft and flavor. Onions, finely-chopped mushrooms, peas, carrots and spinach all added enough complexity and texture, so that one pound of ground meat easily stretched to eight servings.
Instead of traditional lamb, I used lean ground beef, but given how little meat each serving has, I might be persuaded occasionally to use lamb, and why not — a dark ale for extra comfort, since the recipe manages to have a ton of flavor even with only one cup of beer in it.
The Lightened Shepherd's Pie is comforting, but not overly filling; a perfect weeknight meal.
Food Network star Melissa d’Arabian is an expert on healthy eating on a budget. She is the author of the cookbook, “Supermarket Healthy.” 1 3
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