Jungle Cat Cooking: Adventures in Cuisine: Shepherd's Pie with Turkey and Butternut Squash: My ugly but delicious, healthy version of a classic

The Story

You are so, so, so ugly... but delicious.

So, I don't cook the healthiest food.... delicious, but not usually something a dietician would endorse. Not to say that I am as bad as Paula Deen, but I also don't consider salads meals.

This was my attempt to be healthy, and seasonal, and use up random ingredients in my mom's kitchen.

I think it was successful, and my brother agreed... he ate two giant servings. Although, he also called me crazy and "meticulous" for cutting up tons of carrots, celery and onion in the same tiny shapes...

The Food

Step One: Roast butternut squash for topping. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel, scoop out seeds, and cut an approximately 2 pound butternut squash into about 1 inch pieces. Line a baking sheet with foil, toss the squash pieces with salt, pepper, and a generous amount of olive oil (about 2 teaspoons), and roast for about 60-70 minutes, stirring twice. At the end, the pieces should look like this, with just a bit of color on them but thoroughly cooked through:

I love squash.... mmmmm.

Step Two: Saute onions and garlic. While the squash is roasting, make the contents of the shepherd's pie. Chop up one medium size sweet onion and dice approximately 4 gloves of garlic. Melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until onions start to turn clear and turn brown at the edges, about ten minutes. You can work on chopping the other vegetables while the onion and garlic cook.

This makes me happy...

Step Three: Brown ground turkey and add spices. After the onion and garlic has cooked for a bit, add a package (about 1.25 pounds) of lean ground turkey. Add salt and pepper (about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper, but more or less depending on your preferences), about 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 3/4 of a teaspoon of red pepper flakes (more or less depending on your spice tolerance), and 1/4 teaspoon of ground mustard. Stir together the meat, onion, garlic, and spices, and cook until the meat is thoroughly cooked but not browned, stirring occasionally.

This does not look appetizing...

Step Four: Add vegetables. While the onions are browning and then while the meet is cooking, chop up the vegetables. Dice 3 stalks of celery and about 4 medium to large sized carrots into about a 1/2 to 1/4 inch dice. Add to the meat and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring to mix in.

Slightly more visually appealing....

Step Five: Make "gravy," and add peas. Add in a cup of chicken or turkey stock, about one and one half tablespoons of tomato paste, and 1/2 cup of red wine (I used pinot noir). Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for about 20 minutes. When the twenty minutes are done, mix together 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of water in a small cup. Blend the flour and water into a paste, then add several tablespoons of the cooking liquid from the meat and vegetable mixture, in order to bring the temperature closer to that of the filling mixture. After the flour, water and cooking liquid have been blended, drizzle it into the still-cooking meat and vegetable filling mixture, stirring constantly. Add in about 1 and 1/2 cups of frozen peas (about half of a package), and stir to combine. Cook for about 3 minutes longer, while the roasted squash is being mashed, and then remove from the heat.

I know this doesn't really look like gravy, but..

Step Six: Mash roasted squash. Cooking timing should work out such that the squash should be done around the time that the flour and water mixture is being made. Remove the squash from the oven and allow if to cool for a couple of minutes before mashing. While the peas and flour mixture are cooking into the meat, vegetables, and gravy, mash the squash chunks with about 1 tablespoon of butter. Mashing the squash shouldn't take much effort, as the squash should be super soft and sweet. You shouldn't need to add salt and pepper, but taste to make sure the mixture is delicious.

Step Seven: Assemble and bake. After removing the meat and vegetables filling mixture from the heat, taste the gravy to ensure it is properly seasoned, and adjust with salt, pepper, chili powder, and red pepper flakes as needed. Pour the mixture into a 9 by 12 inch baking pan, and make sure the meat and vegetables are pretty evenly distributed.

Make sure the meat, vegetables, and "gravy" are fairly even across the pan.

Next, smooth the mashed roasted squash across the top of the casserole, forming a smooth, even layer covering the filling.

Starting to look more appetizing.

To appease my brother, who thinks this was not unhealthy enough, I shredded 1/2 cup of extra sharp cheddar cheese and sprinkled it lightly across the top of the casserole, then baked it at 400 degrees F for 15 min (in the center of the oven), then turned the broiler on and broiled it on high for 8 min (still in the center of the oven).