Shepherd’s Pie is a traditional English dish. In Britain it is generally made with lamb or mutton; in this recipe I have made a simple ground beef shepherd’s pie and added bacon for extra flavor.
Shepard’s pie is often referred to as “cottage pie,” by the English; it is a casserole made of cooked meat and vegetables that is then topped with mashed potatoes and baked. I have made this dish into a Paleo casserole by using Mashed Cauliflower for the topping. This reduces the glycemic index of the dish and increases the nutritional content, since cauliflower is a super food.
I based my recipe for ground beef Shepherd’s Pie, on this Shepherd’s Pie recipe from functionalfoodie.com. As you can see, I made some adjustments. First, I eliminated the tomato sauce, as research from Dr. Loren Cordain points to the possibility that tomatoes contain immune disrupting lectins (I have therefore eliminated them from my diet as I have MS). I also did not use coconut milk in the mashed cauliflower topping, and skipped the Worcester sauce (since I’m too lazy to read ingredients and prefer to use the simple spices in my spice rack).
I hope you enjoy this gluten free comfort food as much as I have!
Paleo Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 pound turkey or pork bacon, cut into ½-inch slices
- 2 cups diced carrots
- 2 cups diced celery
- 1 pound organic grass fed ground beef
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 cup Chicken Stock or Kettle & Fire Bone Broth
- 2 large heads cauliflower, trimmed, chopped and steamed until very soft
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a very large frying pan
- Sauté onion for 15 minutes until soft
- Add bacon pieces to pan and sauté until cooked, about 10 minutes
- Add carrots and celery to pan and sauté in bacon fat for 10 minutes until soft
- Add ground beef to pan and sauté until brown, just a few minutes
- Season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika
- Add chicken broth and cook down broth until 60% evaporated
- Place cauliflower in food processor and puree with olive oil until smooth
- Pour ground beef mixture into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish
- Pour mashed cauliflower over beef mixture
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes
- Serve
I found that in my fridge this Shepard’s Pie kept for close to a week. I ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
What is your favorite gluten free comfort food?
Justine Raphael says
I am sure you have tons of resources, but have you looked into Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for MS? It seems to good to be true, but I would investigate it, as Samantha Wilkinson, who wrote the book The Promise of LDN, is an MS sufferer and she lists all of the studies that had been done to the date of publication. There’s a great website that lists the studies as well… Good Luck! You are a strong woman.
Erin says
PS – I don’t mind how you spell shepherd. I prefer to focus on the wealth of information and reciptes, appreciating the time, effort and expense you put into it rather than honing in on how you spell a word that we all know what you meant anyway.
Erin says
Perfect for today’s gray, rainy day. I love mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes. I’m going to give the mashed cauliflower a try and make this yummy dish!
My favorite comfort food has always been toast. When I learned I couldn’t have gluten, I was desperate to find GF toast. Now I enjoy my toast made from your GF bread recipes.
Naomi says
Amazing. Had most of the ingredients. Used kale instead of carrots and celery. So yummy and I’m not a cauliflower fan. Thank you so much, Elana!
Jami says
I have so many Paleo comfort foods! “Creamy” Tomato Chicken Soup, Carrot Ginger Soup, Bean-less Chili, Stew, Butternut Squash Apple Soup…just to name a few. I pretty much find comfort in all the Paleo foods I eat, as I know I’m truly “feeding” my body!
I cannot wait to try this recipe, it looks scrumptious!
Thanks for EVERYTHING you bring to my life, Elana!
Jami
PS I’m curious why no coconut milk?
MsJ says
You still missed a couple of “shepards”!
Wendy Bussell says
Oh dear….how many times do you need to edit?
Thanks Elana for the new recipe. Can’t wait to try it out on the family.
Blessings!
carmen says
This looks delicious! I love shepherd’s pie, but can not have it because of a potato allergy. We are having this tonight! Yeah!! So many of our routine eats come from your books/site. Thanks for all of the work you put into these dishes. I really appreciate it.
Amy says
Hi Elana,
Great recipe, thank you.
In our house, we do not eat beef, at all. We have a little one who is allergic to beef (his cousin is, as well).
We use good quality ground buffalo, which is lower in fat and cholesterol than even grass-fed ground beef. :) Good health benefits and no one ever notices a difference.
Give it a try sometime.
~ Amy
Erin says
I used to live in Colorado where finding buffalo was easy. Where we moved, one can’t find buffalo – ground or otherwise – within hundreds of miles. I miss it. Buffalo is healthy with a rich flavor.
Susan D says
I must try this! I have been intimidated by the cauliflower “mashed potatoes” and have not tried this yet. Seems ridiculous not to and this Cottage Pie looks delicious!!
Danielle @ Against All Grain says
Yummy! I just made a shepherd’s pie the other night too with cauliflower but I used a dairy free cream of mushroom soup as the “gravy.” I think I prefer it to the mashed potatoes!
On another note, I am going to be giving away your cupcake book on my blog and wanted to know if it is ok to post the contest on your Facebook wall. Can’t seem to find an email to ask you directly, so hopefully you see this comment!