Italian Shepherd’s Pie

 

Italian Shepherd’s Pie

Serves 6

This is my Italian take on shepherd’s pie using polenta in place of mashed potatoes and turkey meatballs in place of lamb.  This dish has quite a few steps, so it’s good one to do with a partner.  For example, my husband cooked the meatballs while I cooked the polenta and brought together the other elements.  It’s a nice change of pace for a winter meal and my husband loves it enough that he requests it about every other weekend.  

*The polenta recipe is adapted from the Natural Gourmet Institute.

Ingredients:

Polenta:

3 cups of filtered water, divided

1 cup of organic polenta

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp umeboshi vinegar*

Meatballs:

1 lb. organic, pastured ground turkey meat

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp tomato paste

salt and peper to taste

2 tbsp olive oil

Sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, diced into 1/4 inch cubes

2 carrots, diced into 1/4 inch cubes

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup jarred, crushed tomatoes

1 (7 oz.) jar tomato paste (minus 1 teaspoon to be used in the meatballs)

1 cup (or 8 0z. container) organic, low sodium chicken broth

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp Umeboshi vinegar*

1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed**

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350*F.  Lay out 6 (6 inch) ramekins for later.

For the polenta:

In a small sauce pan, stir together 2 cups of the water, the polenta, and the salt with a whisk until smooth.  Bring to a boil and stir constantly until thickened.  Add the remaining cup of water gradually and continue to stir until it incorporates and thickens again.  Lower the heat to a simmer and simmer for 20-30 minutes stirring constantly.  It will be pretty thick when it’s complete and kind of hold together like a dough.  Stir in the umeboshi vinegar and remove pan from the heat.

For the meatballs:

Mix together all the ingredients (except the olive oil) until just combined.  Try not to overmix.  Then roll the meat into balls about the size of a nickel.  It will make about 36 meatballs.

Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan until shimmering.  Then add all of the meatballs and brown them on all sides.

Meanwhile…

For the sauce:

In a separate saute pan, heat the olive oil on medium high heat until shimmering.  Add the onion, carrots, garlic, salt and pepper and saute until the juices start to come out and surround the vegatables and the carrots are tender.  This will take about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, back at the meatball pan…

Once all the meatballs are brown, add the jarred tomatoes, tomato paste and chicken stock to the pan over medium heat to deglaze the pan. (I like to use a wooden spoon).  Stir in the basil, oregano, umeboshi vinegar, and peas while simmering.  Add the contents of the vegetable pan to the meatball pan and stir together.

Spoon the finished sauce into 6 ramekins.  Each ramekin should have one cup of sauce.  Top each ramekin with 1/2 cup of the cooked polenta.  Place all the ramekins on a baking sheet and place in the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes (until the polenta is firm and the sauce starts to bubble on the edges).

I like to serve this with a big green salad and light vinaigrette. Enjoy!

*Umeboshi vinegar will give this dish a “cheesy” flavor without the addition of cheese.

**To thaw the peas, I usually just put them into a colander and run them under  hot water until they are a bright green.