Alice says: “One thing I love about sweet potato is the way that it steams, collapses and turns into mash inside its skin when baked long enough. Here, this method is put to full use to create a mash for the top of a classic shepherd’s pie, skin and all, for bonus crunch.

“We’ve used pork and beef to bulk out and flavour the mixture inside the pie, but you could just as easily go to town on mushrooms cooked down in a pan, or use mushroom tempeh mince, or even beans and lentils. The next time a shepherd comes calling – whether he eats plants or sheep – make this pie.”

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1kg small sweet potatoes, washed
3–4 good rasps of fresh nutmeg
50g unsalted butter, melted
60ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
60g pancetta, finely diced
300g free-range minced pork
400g grass-fed minced beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato purée
250ml beef stock
2 tbsp pouring cream (or full-cream milk)
140g frozen peas, thawed slightly
finely chopped parsley, to serve
crispy fried shallots, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Poke the sweet potatoes all over with a fork. Arrange in a baking dish and bake for 45 minutes, or until softened through; some may even leak out a sweet potato ‘caramel’, like tree sap.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly, then roughly chop the sweet potatoes (no need to peel) and toss in a bowl with the nutmeg, butter and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Set aside.

Grease a 2.5 litre casserole dish with oil.

Meanwhile, fry the pancetta in a dry deep-sided frying pan over medium–high heat until golden. Remove the pancetta to a bowl.

Squish the pork and beef in a bowl to combine, splash another tablespoon of oil into the pan, then add the mince mixture, pressing it down as one big patty. Leave to brown for 4 minutes on one side, then break up and stir for another 3 minutes on high heat. Pop into the bowl with the pancetta.

Pour the remaining oil into the pan. Add the onion, carrot, celery and Worcestershire sauce and cook, stirring frequently, for 8 minutes, or until the veggies are fully softened. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute, or until aromatic.

Return the mince and pancetta to the pan, stir in the tomato paste, stock and cream and simmer for 3–5 minutes, or until slightly reduced.

Stir in the peas, then transfer the mince mixture to the casserole dish. Top with the sweet potato mixture, sprinkle with salt flakes and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

Serve sprinkled with parsley and fried shallots, with a salad on the side.

Tip

The better the quality of the ingredients, the better the flavour will be. I’d much rather you bought less minced meat, but of the highest quality, and bulked it out with cooked-down mushrooms or beans and lentils, please.

From In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky (£25, Murdoch Books), out now

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