Tweaked from Iowa Girl Eats
As delicious, creative and healthy new, trendy foods can be, sometimes I just crave some good ol’ fashioned traditional comfort food.
Who’s to say you can’t tweak your family recipe to make it align a little more with your 2014 health standards? That’s precisely what we did here – without compromising any of that comforting flavour.
On the topic of “traditional” foods, something worth checking out are the Blue zone studies. These studies look at populations of exceedingly healthy people around the world to learn the secret of living a long, healthy life. Interestingly, these populations all have (basically) completely different diets. As you might guess though, commonalities include local, plant-based diets and importantly, share their meal in a relaxed environment with people they love.
So. Make the pie and invite some friends over to share.
I just couldn’t choose between a faux-potato topping (cauliflower) or yam topping so I did both. Half and half. I like that since you can have a scoop of each and broaden your intake of vitamins and phytonutrients!
Ingredients
Filling:
1lb organic ground turkey
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper
3 Tbsp gluten-free flour (or regular if you’re ok with that)
1 Tbsp tomato paste (OR stewed & pureed fresh tomatoes)
1 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups veggie (or turkey) broth
1 carrot, chopped
1-2 celery stalks, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
handful of green beans, chopped
1 yellow pepper (in place of corn), chopped
Topping:
1 large head of cauliflower chopped (if not using yam do extra cauliflower)
1 large head of cauliflower chopped (if not using yam do extra cauliflower)
2 medium to large yams chopped (if going halfers on the topping)
2/3 cup coconut milk (or cream)
3 Tbsp butter, divided (or coconut oil)
salt & pepper
2/3 cup coconut milk (or cream)
3 Tbsp butter, divided (or coconut oil)
salt & pepper
Method
Topping:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chopped cauliflower and yam into baking dishes (keep ‘em separate so you can have one half of your pie with an orange topping and one half with white topping!) and add a little coconut oil.
2. Bake veggies until tender and easily stabbed with a fork (about 20-30 minutes).
3. Once done, pour into a large food processor (do the yam and cauliflower in separate batches) along with a little butter (or coconut oil), salt and pepper and coconut milk (or cream).
4. Process the cauliflower and yams each until smooth and set aside.
Filling:
1. Toss onions, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large, heated saucepan. Once onions are starting to go translucent, add the turkey and cook until lightly browned.
2. Drain or sop up some fat (if necessary) and then sprinkle in flour, stir well and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add tomato puree (or paste), Worcestershire sauce, tamari and broth to the pan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes, or until sauce is thick.
4. Add chopped veggies and a little freshly ground salt and pepper.
5. Pour the turkey/veggie mixture into a large, oven-safe baking or casserole dish. Top with your cauliflower and/or yam and add a few little drops of butter (or coconut oil), salt, and pepper. Cover the whole thing with some foil and pop into the oven.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until top is golden brown.
