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?
Danielle says
My boyfriend and I love shepherds pie. the cauliflower was great!we subs the peas for green beans (personal preference) we decided not to put in the full amount of bacon.(which we do like) in the end we really have not been thrilled to eat this all week. the bacon turned out to be a disappointment all together. … but we are powering through and will go back to our baconless pie in the future.
Danielle says
I should have added the reason we did not like the bacon was because of the grease and fat layer on the bottom.. and it doesnt seem to cook enough (still soft)
k. Apple says
I made the Shepherd’s pie tonight, paired with a sautéed greens combo my husband made. It was the ultimate comfort food meal, which I needed since I’m getting over a nasty virus. My 11 year old had 2 huge helpings, and was amazed at how wonderful it was. (I’m not known for my cooking, but your recipe was super easy for me to follow.)
I used coconut oil instead of olive, and coconut milk with the cauliflower. I think the smoked paprika really makes the dish complete, though. Thank you!!
Stacey LoSacco says
I have made this twice already. Everyone loved it! and my parents have asked me for the recipe. My husband thought the cauliflower was mashed potatoes. thanks!!
Rachel says
This looks so homey and delicious!
Laura says
Can’t wait to try this. What a great idea to use cauliflower. I have seen cauliflower mashed “potatoes” but never thought to use them in shepard’s pie. Now you’ve got me thinking what other ways I could use them…
Judith says
I accidentally posted this on the wrong recipe:). So I copied it here where it belongs.
I just made your Paleo Shepherd’s Pie last night and it was yummy. Thank you for the recipe. It is so difficult to find “casserole” type recipes without dairy, grains, and tomatoes. I too shall use this as a quick lunch. I am going to freeze some to see how it keeps, it would be great to have something to pull from the freezer. Thank you again!
Laura says
So I know this was forever ago, but did you freeze this? How did it turn out? Too mushy?
Erin says
This recipe looks scrumptious! I’ve been wanting to try a cauliflower-based shepherd’s pie:)
I didn’t realize you had MS. It’s inspiring to those of us with autoimmune diseases to see others doing well. You rock!
I don’t want to cross the line into giving unsolicited advice (don’t we all hate that?) but in case you hadn’t seen it yet, Dr. Terry Wahls has a great video on how she healed her M with Paleo nutrition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLPVsO8omy4
Also, so many people with autoimmune disease have low B12- I found out that it’s commonly undiagnosed because US B12 ranges are way too low- they start at 250 and goes to 900, whereas Japanese range starts at 550 and goes to 1300. ideally, we want or level to be 1000+.
As low B12 is commonly misdiagnosed as MS (and also dementia/Alzheimer’s), it’s recommended that anyone with neurological symptoms get their level checked and try hydroxocobalamin or methylcobalamin injections.
Here is more info:
http://b12awareness.org/
http://www.amazon.com/Could-Be-B12-Epidemic-Misdiagnoses/dp/1884956467
Kimberly says
Hmmmm. I followed the recipe precisely, using turkey bacon rather than pork (just due to availability of nitrate-free product, they only had nitrate-free turkey bacon.) I found the bacon chunks (2 inch pieces as indicated) a distraction from the overall texture of the dish. I don’t have a paella pan or similar huge skillet, just two 12 inch skillets, so I divided in half — half in each skillet, otherwise there was not enough room to get the beef cooked easily, and things were overflowing the skillet. I’ll try double the beef and not use bacon next time, I think. I’ve made many of Elana’s recipes and this is the first one that didn’t knock my socks off. Not awful, just not totally my taste, I suppose. I think that’s an amazing record though! :) Now off to make the paleo banana bread, which I’ve made before. It’s amazing! yum!
Amy Q says
Just made this yesterday for a cold MN winter day… so delicious! I used mashed rutabaga instead of the cauliflower for the topping (not sure if rutabaga is paleo?) and wanted more veggies so I used 1 c carrot, 1 c celery, 1 c cauliflower, 1 c cabbage, 1 c baby spinach, 1 c corn… the 1 c of broth was still sufficient despite adding more to the dish. I chose the applewood smoked ‘Sunday bacon’ which added incredible flavor. This will definitely be a regular dish in our house – thank you!
Sarah @ The Healthy Diva says
This looks lovely…i love cauliflower mash!