A layer of thinly sliced rather than mashed potatoes on top of the savory filling allows for a long, slow turn in the Crock Pot.
As a Southern girl, my go-to fall comfort foods have always been chicken and dumplings and Brunswick stew—a savory meld of meat, chicken, corn, potatoes, lima beans, tomatoes, and Tabasco. Though made different ways by varying factions, the stew has a characteristic note of sweetness thrown into the ya-ya, which some kettlemasters achieve with the addition of creamed corn or sugar, while others, like myself, prefer a little barbecue sauce instead. The bottom line with Brunswick Stew, though, is not to go poking around the pot too much no matter where you are. If you’re at my house, you can rest assured the meat that makes the stew is of the porcine variety—usually leftover pulled pork. Should you drop in on some of my kinfolk serving Brunswick Stew, however, you might discover that what you’re chewing isn’t something you’d normally consider cooking so much as a creature you might feed crumbs to in the park. So I always make my own.
A few autumns ago, though, I found a new fall favorite, one that my mother never fixed on lazy Sundays—Shepherd’s Pie. I can live without the classic clovey, allspicey, suety-style filling to be honest, but chunks of beef, gravy and vegetables topped by creamy mashed potatoes is my idea of heaven. Lately, though, I’ve cut back on red meat, in an effort to “reduce” as my grandfather liked to say (the same grandfather who used to swill Seagrams by the pintful then swear to me that Queen Elizabeth was my cousin I might add). I’m actually learning to like ground turkey in lieu thereof, especially when you can overwhelm the minced bird with flavors it can’t ignore. For Shepherd’s Pie filling, beefy style gravy didn’t sound too tasty with ground turkey, but spicy curry did. And since I had these fabulous jars of gourmet Fern’s Curry Pastes just waiting to be used, I wondered what would happen it East met West in my Crock Pot. I’m not saying I achieved world peace in Spring Hill, Tennessee, mind you. But I will assert that nothing brings people together like a good meal—that’s really the power of food isn’t it? And this dish is hands-across-America good, not to mention good for you. Instead of mashed potatoes with butter and cream, I sliced the potatoes in thin rounds and drizzled the whole shedaisy with olive oil. Amazing, and any dish that promises no-guilt seconds is a dish I’ll make twice. Here’s the recipe:
Indian Fusion Shepherd’s Pie
(Serves 4)
1 pound ground turkey
Sea salt, black pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into large cubes
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1 tablespoon Fern’s Mild Curry Paste
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
3 Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into thin rounds
Olive Oil
Parmigiano-Reggiano
1. Scramble ground turkey until browned; season with salt and pepper.
2. Spray the inside of the slow cooker with nonstick spray. Add browned turkey, stir in shallot, onion, carrots and green peas. Stir in curry paste and tomato sauce.
3. Top with sliced potatoes in concentric circles. Drizzle with olive oil. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove lid, grate a little Parmigiano-Reggiano over the potatoes. Replace lid, wait 5 minutes and serve.
Norwizzle's Almanac 