Butternut Squash
(Not Quite) Shepherd’s pie (Low Carb)
- Makes a lot
Author Notes
When potatoes were being introduced as an affordable food for the poor (cottage dwellers) in the late 1700s, “cottage pie” was a way to get mileage out of leftover roasted meat, as a baked dish of the leftover meat topped with vegetables and mashed potato. Shepherd’s pie has become the generic term for this sort of dish, although originally it was the term used when mutton was the meat. I have been curious about the look of this dish for a while, and had a bunch of leftover roasted (pulled) pork, wrapped in the freezer, that I made when some 10-pound Boston Butt roasts were 99 cents a pound. So I thawed out 3 pounds of it and thought about how I wanted to construct this.
I use my Simply Ming copper-lined wok pan, and this was a one-pan prep (plus the food processor and the baking dish - haha). I made about three times more of the meat and vegetable filling than I needed, so that I could have it for other types of meals. If you only want to make the pie, cut everything here by about a third!
—Brian Coppola
Ingredients
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2 pounds
shredded pulled pork
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1
large butternut squash, ½ inch cubes
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9
large carrots, ¼ inch slices
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4
large sweet onion, large chop
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12 ounces
tomato paste
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8 ounces
tomato sauce
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1
head cauliflower
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1 cup
sour cream
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1.5 cups
grated parmesan cheese (fresh)
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3 tablespoons
diced roasted garlic
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1 cup
shredded cheddar cheese
Directions
- topping: rough cut large pieces of cauliflower, place on parchment-lined pan, spray with oil, roast for 20-30 minutes at 400F until golden
- partially caramelize the onions in EVOO and then mix in the pork
- when heated through, add in the butternut squash and the carrot slices
- add tomato paste and sauce, mix well, heat through
- continue to heat and mix until the carrots are tender (get back to the topping when the cauliflower is done)
- add spices and/or herbs to your taste (I added thyme, oregano, black pepper)
- back to the topping: remove and chop the cauliflower, place into food processor and process; add sour cream and process; add parm cheese and process; add garlic and process
- For one pie: place about 1/3 of the meat and vegetable mixture in a 9x9 baking dish, top with the mashed cauliflower, bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes until top is browning and the meat is bubbling; remove and add cheddar, return for a final 10-15 minutes
- refrigerate the extra filling and use it for other purposes; I use a low carb wrap with added cheese, topped with a red sauce, and bake enchilada style, topping with sour cream
- or, heat and mix with a serving of Banza chickpea pasta and a little sauce
- or, heat and serve over some riced cauliflower
- or, heat and put into a low carb pita (Joseph’s flax)
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