Gastronomic heresy alert: I am calling Shepherd’s Pie a concoction made with ground turkey and cauliflower topping. And what’s even worse, I’ve committed this sin before an I am doing it all over again, without a hint of shame. This preparation is filling but moderately so. It won’t let you go into a state of total lethargy once you move away from the table. It is also low in carbs and saturated fat, in case you worry about those details. I used a trick quite popular in keto-type recipes to give ground turkey a more pleasant texture upon cooking. It involves baking soda and a few minutes of your time. Absolutely worth it. Read on the comments for full explanation on the baking soda trick.
TURKEY SHEPHERD’S PIE
(adapted from several sources)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 head cauliflower, core removed, florets cut in pieces
½ cup water
Salt and pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 pound 93 percent lean ground turkey
¼ teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 tablespoon harissa
¾ cup homemade or low-sodium chicken broth
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tsp Herbes de Provence
1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan until ver hot. Add cauliflower and cook until softened and beginning to brown. Pour 1/2 cup water, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook until the cauliflower is fully tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a food processor, and process until smooth. Add the egg and paprika, and process a few more seconds. Reserve.
Prepare the ground turkey: in a bowl, add the meat, one tablespoon water, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and baking soda, mixing everything together. Set aside for 15 minutes. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Make sure to use a skillet that can go under the broiler. Add mushrooms and celery and cook until no liquid remains. Stir in harissa and cook for a few more minutes.
Add broth, carrots, and Herbes de Provence, and bring to a simmer. Add the turkey meat, breaking it up with a fork. Cover and cook until turkey is cooked through, about 10 minutes, stirring and breaking up the meat every few minutes. Whisk cornstarch and the 2 tablespoons water together in small bowl, then stir mixture into filling and continue to simmer until thickened, about 1 minute. Adjust seasoning, if necessary.
Pat the meat mixture to make it leveled, and spread the cauliflower puree all over the surface. If you like, use tines of fork to make a pattern of ridges on the surface. Place skillet under the broiler and broil for about 10 minutes, if necessary move the pan around to get homogenous color on the surface. Allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: Quite often ground turkey develops a dry, unpleasant texture when cooked, unless you use alternative methods such as pressure cooking, or the crock pot low and slow for a long time. The addition of baking soda changes everything, by raising the pH. This has two benefits: it reduces the interaction between protein molecules in the meat (by a mild denaturing effect) and accelerates browning. Since the proteins are not able to interact with each other very efficiently, they acquire a more tender texture. It is important to not overdo it. You don’t want the meat to get all mushy, it is a delicate balance. In other words, don’t add the baking soda and walk away for a couple of hours.
This recipe can be assembled all the way and kept in the fridge. When it’s time to eat, place it covered in a low oven to warm up, then uncover and run under the broiler. Leftovers are superb, and as usual, they showed up as my lunch two more times that week.
Note added after publication: a dear friend of mine from UK brought to my attention that a lesser sin would have been to call this a Twisted Sister of the Cottage Pie, as that at least involves other kinds of meat, whereas the Shepherd is always made with ground lamb. So there you go, a bit more culinary trivia for us all. I will keep my title, since one sister was already out there… (wink, wink)
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Bewitching Kitchen 
*smile* Trust you ! I don’t ‘do’ keto and normally don’t eat shepherd’s pie ! Love all the vegetables, love the harissa . . . have not used much ground turkey here but can get it . . . so guess what has just gone on the weekend menu . . . ?!
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Hope you like it!
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I’d love to try this! I would grind Turkey thigh meat.
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you are braver than me… grinding meat at home reminds me of my childhood in Brazil, Mom had one of those thingies that looked like something out of a Medieval torture room… 😉 Somehow it traumatized me…
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We’ve enjoyed substituting cauliflower for potatoes, pizza crust, rice etc. in many dishes. The topping for a Shepard’s pie never occurred to me. Ground turkey…why not? As in all culinary approaches, creativity, substitution and necessity can be very rewarding. Thank you!
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sometimes it’s nice to play with new ways to prepare a classic, although I do think calling it by the same name is a bit of a stretch… 😉
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This looks wonderful! What is the baking soda for?
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Perchance paying Sally the courtesy of reading the post would help – surely an entire paragraph of explanation might explain . . .
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I should have included that in the beginning, actually – I just placed a little “hint” and nothing else, I will add a little note right now to make sure everyone is aware it’s down the post
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It’ s in the comments after the recipe – come to think of it, I just teased about it in the introduction, should have been better to place it right there… oh well – scroll down to the comments and you’ll see the whole explanation
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I read it, i just don’t get it. Is it just about browning? Cause i do that in batches to ensure browning, even though it takes so much longer. But that woman has made so many rude comments towards me I’d love to delete her from my universe.
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it is not only the browning, but the texture itself – you see, when you don’t add the baking soda, the proteins in the meat have charges that interact and “glue” portions of the proteins to each other, forming “tight groups” – that actually taste exactly like that, tight, harsh, dried up pieces of meat. When you change the charge composition of the proteins (by lowering acidity with the baking soda), you prevent that self-interaction from happening. Not completeley, that would turn the meat to mush, but to a good extent. So you get a much softer, pleasant texture in the mouth. And it browns better, so it’s a double nice effect with a single simple treatment – there is also some explanation of how the lowering of the acidity affects the charges of the protein, but that’s I think a bit too much chemistry to go through in a silly food blog…
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I aced chemistry, which was pretty silly for me to have taken as a geology major, since socks are inorganic. . I think i was just tired from my trip when I read your post, and didn’t get the total gist of the baking soda addition. Really excited to try it. Not a silly food blog.
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these international trips kill you… when we arrived back from Brazil it took me two days to feel back to “normal” – Glad you had a good time in my former home country… Rio is a beautiful place!
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It was wonderful. there wasn’t even jet lag, but I was definitely tired for a couple of days. And, getting older, too…
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Dear Mrs Rippee – I never have nor ever would want to be in ‘your universe;’ . . . 🙂 ! And, just to correct you: I have never made ONE single rude comment regarding you t . . . why would one bother ? . . . . sorry, Sally . . . .,
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Great idea! Got it penciled in for this weekend’s meal prep. Thanks for posting this, it eliminated the need of making another decision.
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decisions… decisions…. I know just how you feel… (sigh)
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Thanks for the science lesson! I’m going to have to try that with ground turkey! Sounds delicious. Love the swirly pattern on top!
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You can go POllock, you can go geometric, you can go Monet I suppose…. I just went crazy
😉
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The swirly top looks so good!
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made the dish much more “interesting”
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😁
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Oh yes on this — all of it. Always looking for ways to use ground turkey. And with your hot tip I can likely make the other dishes where I use ground turkey better.
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it is a nice trick to have in mind… a real game changer!
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