Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie with Parsnip, Sunchokes and Chard
An autumn-forward version of Shepherd's Pie, utilizing root vegetables and sweet potato to add layers of comfort during the colder temps!
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potato Topping
- 2 pounds sweet potato peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes
- 4 tbsp melted butter
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
For the Beef Mixture
- 1.5 pounds ground beef
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion large size, chopped
- 1 carrot medium sized, halved and sliced thin
- 2 parsnips medium sized, halved and sliced thin
- 1 pound sunchokes also known as Jerusalem Artichokes. Scrubbed clean, halved and cut into 1/4 inch chunks
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 tsp oregano use fresh if you have however dried is fine
- 1 tsp thyme use fresh if you have however dried is fine
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1 bunch chard any color chard is fine, cut into thin strips
- 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cup chicken stock
Instructions
For the Potato Topping
- Peel and chop the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Place the potatoes into a large pot along with a hefty pinch of salt, and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and when cool enough to handle, place them into the bowl of a food processor. With the food processor running, add the melted butter, milk, a pinch of salt and a pinch of black pepper, and process until smooth. Adjust seasoning to your liking.
For the Beef Mixture
- In a large pot over medium heat, heat the oil. Once shimmering, add the onions, carrots, parsnip, sunchokes, garlic, thyme and oregano. Cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. Add the ground beef, and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir frequently until the meat is no longer pink, another 5 minutes.
- Stir in the frozen peas and chard. Stir to ensure the mixture is well combined and warmed through, another 3 minutes.
- Sprinkle the beef mixture with the flour and stir to coat. Cook for another minute and then add the chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it thicken slightly, for an additional 5 minutes.
- Place the meat mixture aside until ready for assembly.
Assembly of the Shepherd's Pies
- Prior to assembling the individual Shepherd’s Pies, you can place the potato mixture into a piping bag and cutely pipe the potato topping on top of the beef mixture, or if you don’t care about cuteness, feel free to plop it or spoon it onto the beef mixture. You can also forgo the individual pies and just make one gigantic shepherd's pie. If you go this route, choose a nice sized baking dish, fill it about an inch with the beef mixture and place about half an inch to 1 inch of potato on top.
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees, and once the temperature is reached, place the pies onto the top baking rack for 20 minutes. I would advise you to place a large sheet tray underneath the pies in case they ooze over, you don’t want to burn the bottom of your oven. After the 20 minutes, the potato topping should be a bit more golden. If not done to your liking or if you want a crispier potato topping, turn on the broil in your oven. Keep a close eye on the pies so you don’t burn them as that can happen quickly under a broil.
- Remove finished pies from the oven and allow a few minutes for them to cool before devouring them.
Notes
I have found that this recipe will make about 6-8 small to medium sized ramekins, or 1 gigantic 10-inch shepherd's pie without the smaller individual servings. I like a crispier topping so I do opt for the short broil time, however please keep an eye on them as you don't want all that time and effort to go to waste because you took your eye off the prize for a few minutes. This is an easy dish to make and it's also a very hard dish to mess up. The addition of fall root vegetables and the sweet potato topping just warm the belly and bring a smile to my face. And any time I can find a way to incorporate sunchokes into a dish, it's a huge win. After cooking the beef mixture, you may notice the sunchokes appear undercooked and still a bit raw. Do not worry about this, you want them to have some texture in the finished product and the 20 minutes of oven time will do the job and get them where they need to be.