delicious recipes from a messy kitchen

To be honest, every minute of this week has been a hurried-scurry: out the door every morning for a jog before scurrying to and through a day at the office. Scurrying here, there and everywhere to meet friends, or to run those scurrying types of errands that you can’t quite remember after because you were… well… scurrying.

But it’s Friday. The Canadian Thanksgiving weekend lies ahead.

So tonight, instead of scurrying, I came home and slow roasted yams in the oven to top a homemade shepherd’s pie. I gave them their sweet time to caramelize instead of hurriedly boiling them into submission, and added a slow tropical drawl of  coconut and curry. A pot of red cabbage and apple braised slowly on the stove top. My dear friend Jim came over for dinner. We drank a bottle and a half of very good Australian shiraz  and caught up on over a year of life.

So much has happened in this year between Thanksgivings. Our lives have emptied and refilled in ways that neither of us could have imagined.

Between the hurrying and the scurrying, so many changes take place in our peripheral vision, barely noticed until we pause to ponder them with a good friend over good wine, and a shepherd’s pie topped with unscurriedly-roasted coconut yams.

{MAKES} 6 generous servings (made in a deep 10″ skillet or a 9 x 13″ casserole)

{INGREDIENTS}

6 small yams or sweet potatoes (yielding 5C mashed yams)

1 to 2 TV olive or canola oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

2 garlic cloves, slivered

1 1/2  lbs lean ground beef, lamb or a mixture of the two (I used ground beef alone)

2 TB flour

1 TB Madras curry powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1 C  beef, veggie, or chicken broth

1 C frozen peas

1/4 C coconut milk

salt and pepper to taste

one. To roast yams: preheat oven to 425°F. Place washed, whole yams (with their skins on) into a roasting pan lined with parchment paper or tin foil (to catch the juices). Prick each yam all over with a fork. Roast in the oven for 1 hour or until they begin to soften and caramelize. (If you are short on time, prepare the yams the evening before, or alternatively, peel, chop and boil them into soft submission the evening you’re making the dish.)

two. While yams are roasting, prepare the meat filling: In a deep oven proof skillet , heat a 1 to 2 TB of olive or canola oil and sauté the onion, garlic and carrot over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until soft.

three. Add curry, cumin, cinnamon and fennel seeds and stir for 1 minute or until fragrant.

three. Add the garlic and meat and cook for another 5 minutes, until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are beginning to brown

four. Sprinkle 2 TB of flour on top of the meat mixture, and stir it until it is well incorporated and the mxture simmers and thickens. The meat should be nearly cooked through but should have a touch of pink.

five. Stir in 1C of frozen peas and remove from heat.

(You can pour the meat filling into a baking dish if you’d like and make sure that it only fills it half full… but I simply serve my shepherd’s pie in the skillet to save washing an additional serving dish.)

six. To make the coconut yam topping: Peel yams and mash with the coconut milk. Add salt and pepper to taste.

eight. Using a large spoon or spatula, spread the yam topping over the meat mixture and smooth the top.

nine. Bake for 30 minutes, and then broil the top for 15 minutes or until top is a golden brown.

{AN ORIGINAL RECIPE FROM THE MESSY KITCHEN}
Inspired by Julie’s Lamb Shepherds Pie with Sweet Potatoes

Tags: casserole, sweet potato, yams