Deconstructed Sweet Potato Turkey Shepard’s Pie
Is it just me, or is time absolutely FLYING right now? I’m really glad it’s spring and all, but seriously?! SLOW DOWN! When I got engaged, we had a whole year until the wedding, and now it’s only 6 months away – and I feel like I just got engaged yesterday. Perhaps I can blame the fact that I am extremely backed up with blog posts on the hyper-speed of time? Let’s just go with it…
Ages ago, I received some Tuttorosso canned tomato samples. I used up most of them right away, in soups and stews and over polenta. They made great sauces and added loads of flavor to dishes, but I somehow managed not to snap ANY photos of those applications. Recently, when I realized I just had one can left, and needed to craft up a delicious recipe with it, I got to thinking what I might do. I an effort to sooth a very food-sensitive body, we’ve been cooking with a lot of whole foods, and trying to stay away from processed things. so when I came up with this recipe, that was top of mind.
I’d recently seen a recipe for Shepard’s Pie, something my Dad made all the time growing up, that I really, really loved. But in our household now we don’t eat many plain potatoes or peas, never mind cream of mushroom soup or any of that stuff you use to thicken it. So I decided to use my last cane of tomatoes to make a dish somewhat reminiscent of Shepard’s Pie, but with some “healthified” components. The resulting dish wasn’t so much Shepard’s Pie as it was a turkey, veggie and sweet potato concoction, but it was delicious and I named it to pay homage to the dish that it was inspired by.
This dish comes together easily, incorporating frozen veggies (which I never use, but they are so handy!), ground turkey, Tuttorosso tomatoes and plenty of velvety mashed sweet potato. Because we were lazy the evening we enjoyed this for dinner, I didn’t bake it casserole style, and instead we served a heafty portion of the veggie and turkey mixture, with a large dollop of sweet potato on top. If I were to make it again and give myself some extra time, I’d definitely put it into the oven, to give the flavors some extra to meld. I found that the day after I made this, the flavors were so much bigger and stronger – not to say it wasn’t delicious the first night we had it, but it got even better.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 10oz. mushrooms
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2lbs lean ground turkey
- 2 packages frozen TJ’s veggies (or about 4 cups of your favorite veggies, coarsely chopped)
- 1 can (28 oz) of crushed Tuttorosso tomatoes
- 4 medium-large sweet potatoes, large diced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (you can use what you prefer if you don't have this)
- Salt and pepper, for seasoning
Directions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and season with salt. Once it comes to a rolling boil, add in sweet potatoes, and cook until fork tender. Strain, then return to pan, and mash with 1 tablespoon of butter. Season with additional salt and pepper and set aside.
- In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Once hot, add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and saute until golden and browned, 5-7 minutes. Place in pan, and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in the same pan, then add onions. Season with salt and pepper and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook for an additional 30 seconds until fragrant, then add ground turkey. Break up with a spoon or spatula, and continue to cook over medium heat until meat it browned and cooked through.
- Add 1 can of crushed tomatoes, along with all of your frozen veggies and Italian seasoning, and stir to combine. Keep pan over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are cooked through and sauce is simmering, about 5-7 minutes.
- At this point, you can transfer the meat and vegetable mixture to a casserole pan, spread top with mashed sweet potatoes, and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. However, we served immediately.
- To serve immediately, scoop meat and vegetable mixture into bowls, and top with a dollop of mashed sweet potato. We served ours with some grated parmesan on top, which was delicious!
Disclaimer: The Tuttorosso canned tomatoes I used in this recipe were complimentary. As always, opinions expressed here are my own.
