Veggie-filled Chicken Shepherds Pie

Serves 4

One of my very favourite things to do is to cast my magic foodie nerd wand and maximize the nutritional content of our food. Today I turned my hand to seriously upping our Shepherds Pie game by cramming in SEVEN brightly coloured veggies. The tasty filling consists of organic chicken mince, and the topping is a mixture of purple sweet potatoes and squash. One portion provides a nourishing 504 calories, 33g of good quality protein, 35% of my daily fibre intake and an enormous 570% of my Vitamin A requirements! And it is all wrapped up in the guise of traditional comfort food. This family favourite freezes brilliantly so is perfect for the days when you need your dinner to give you a giant bear hug and tell you everything’s gonna be ok…so to speak!

INGREDIENTS

For the filling

· 500g Minced Organic Chicken (mixture of light and dark meat)
· 2 Carrots
· 2 White Onions
· 2 Celery Stalks
· 2 Leeks
· 6 Garlic Cloves
· 2 Tins (400g each) Chopped Tomatoes
· 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
· ½ tbsp Olive Oil
· 3 tbsp Tomato Purée
· 1 tbsp Rosemary
· 1 tsp Thyme
· 1 tbsp Sage
· Salt & Pepper to taste

For the topping

· 350g Squash
· 350g Sweet potato
· 2 tbsp Whole Grain Mustard
· 2 tbsp Butter
· 1 tsp Paprika
· Salt & Pepper to taste
· Optional — 4 tbsp Milk if needed to thin the mash

METHOD

For the filling

· Dice the onions, carrots, leeks and celery.
· Mince the garlic.
· Heat ½ tbsp oil in a deep frying pan and sauté the vegetables until they begin to brown slightly.
· Add the garlic and herbs, and sauté for another minute before adding the chicken mince.
· Continue to cook that for 5 minutes.
· Add the tinned tomatoes.
· Simmer for 10 minutes.
· Add the tomato puree, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Mash to get out the lumps.
· Continue to simmer for another 5–10 minutes until the sauce becomes rich and flavourful.

For the topping

· Peel and dice the sweet potatoes and squash.
· Steam for 10–15 minutes until soft.
· Mash and add the butter, mustard, paprika and season with salt and pepper.
· (NOTE — Add milk as needed to thin the mash. The squash didn’t need any as it was already lovely and moist, but the purple sweet potatoes needed quite a bit of milk as it was quite thick and dry.)
· Now it is time to assemble the pie — put the mash on top of the filling and either allow it to cool and freeze it in individual portions; or else put in the oven for 30 minutes so that the filling is piping hot and the topping has started to go crispy.

Nutritional InformatiON

Calories — 504
Fat — 17g
Carbohydrates — 57g
Protein — 33g
Fibre — 9g (35%)
Vitamin A — 570%
Vitamin C — 62%
Iron — 19%