Day 275: Shepherd's Pie Purists Should Not Read This

The inspiration for tonight's dinner was a head of cauliflower that had been in my fridge for a little over week.  I decided to use that cauliflower to make a healthier version of one of my favorite comfort foods - shepherd's pie.

I love traditional shepherd's pie made with ground lamb and mashed potatoes.  And to be honest, that version is much tastier than the one I created tonight although mine was quite a bit more nutritious.

After cutting the cauliflower up into halved florets, I tossed the pieces with olive oil, S&P, an roasted them at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes (until golden brown along the edges).  Then, I placed them in a food processor with 1T butter and 1/4 cup skim milk and blended until smooth.  I used this mixture as a replacement for the mashed potatoes that are normally smoothed along the top of shepherd's pie.

For the meat layer of the dish, I used an Allrecipes.com recipe as the base with the following changes to further lighten up the dish:

- 1.5 lb ground turkey instead of 1 lb ground beef 

- low sodium chicken broth instead of beef broth

- Red Dragon mustard seed cheddar instead of plain cheddar

I also added 2T worcestershire sauce, 1.5 tsp dried oregano, and replaced the ketchup with tomato paste for more flavor.  In retrospect, a couple of cloves of garlic would have done a lot of good as well.

This dish was okay and there wasn't the usual guilt I feel after eating "real" shepherd's pie.  I'd probably try several other recipes before making this one again.  It simply wasn't all that tasty - and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the replacements that made it so.  It was more likely the lack of spice and seasoning.

Our side dish, asparagus fresh from the farmer's market, was delicious though.  I'm glad we bought two bunches so we enjoy more later in the week!