Healthy, Delicious Shepherd's Pie

In the fall and winter, a large portion of produce boxes or CSA shares can be made of up root vegetables.  This healthy version of Shepherd's Pie is one of my favorite ways to use up all those roots, replacing much of the usual meat with vegetables.

Healthy Delicious Shepherd's Pie
2 onions, finely chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1-2 additional root vegetables, chopped (I had one parsnip and one turnip, you could use celery root, rutabagas  or anything else that sounds good.
1/2 - 1 pound ground grass fed beef or lamb
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
2 TBS tomato paste
1 cup beef stock
3/4 cup red wine
dash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 TBS fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 TBS chia seeds
salt and pepper to taste

2-3 TBS additional water or wine for sauteing

Mashed Potatoes (approximately 2 cups)
Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Heat a small amount of water or wine in a large pan or dutch oven.  Water saute (just cook, stirring, in the water rather than oil to keep it from sticking) onions, celery, and garlic.  Add carrots and other root vegetables and rosemary, cook until slightly soft.  Set aside.

In the same pan, brown the ground beef or lamb, add thyme.  Set aside.  (I had saved a half pound of precooked ground beef from the previous day's recipe, so I simply mixed that in the last step, it's an easy way to reduce how much meat your family eats.)

Finally, in the same pan, saute mushrooms, and set side.

Combine cooked vegetables and meat, then add tomato paste and wine, bring to a simmer and cook until liquid is reduced by half.  Add broth, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, mushrooms, and chia seeds.

Spoon into an oven proof dish.  (If you used a dutch oven to brown everything, you can save a dish and use this to bake it in.  If not, use a 9x13 or comparable dish.)

Top with a thin layer of mashed potatoes.  (Avoid making them with too much butter to keep this healthy. This dish has enough flavor you won't miss butter in the potatoes, I just mash mine with some soy milk.)

Sprinkle a small amount of Parmesan cheese on top, and bake about 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

The perfect way to end a cold and blustery day!

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