AIP Turkey Leftovers Shepherd's Pie
The single best thing that I have eaten that was completely AIP safe was this recipe for Holiday Turkey Dinner leftovers. The familiar feel of shepherd's pie utilizing whatever you have leftover from a big holiday turkey dinner the night before. If you have tons of leftover food then this meal will come together really fast...but even if you are making some mashed sweet potatoes from scratch this will be a huge hit with everyone with a minimum amount of effort required to get it to the table. Making three trays takes only a few minutes longer than making one and they even freeze pretty well if you are trying to figure out what to do with a million pounds of leftover turkey, gravy and veggies.
For sure the star of this dish is the tangy cranberries that cut through the heavy, salty and savory flavors of a turkey dinner. I was never a big cranberry eater with a turkey dinner...hardly at all really, but do not dream of skipping them. They are the magic that made this tray of shepherd's pie disappear way faster than originally expected. In fact this was so good, the very next day I was asked to make it again! I doubled the cranberries to positive result the second time around as well and if you like cranberries to begin with then feel free to go to town with them as you see fit.
* Don't cut up the turkey meat. For some reason it is just better when they are hand torn chunks instead of cubes and chunks with straight edges. Someone told me that once about chicken (and turkey) and it is totally true. The natural, jagged edges, just are more appetizing in dishes than something that looks machine processed. I think the jagged edges also allow more moisture into the meat and more surface for gravy to cling to.
Prep time
15 minutes
Cooking time
45 minutes
Recipe yield
4 to 6 servings
Ingredients needed
3 cups cooked turkey (hand separated)
3 sweet potatoes (or 3 cups of mashed sweet potatoes)
1/2 broccoli crown
1/2 cauliflower crown
1 cup AIP turkey gravy
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil
Step 1 - Set oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
Step 2 - Peel and chop sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil in a medium pot for 15 minutes
Step 3 - Chop and steam cauliflower and broccoli crowns for 10 to 15 minutes
Step 4 - Add hand separated turkey to bottom of deep cooking pan or glassware
Step 5 - Pour gravy evenly over turkey. It may help to warm up the gravy first if it is too gelatinous
Step 6 - Add cranberries, broccoli and cauliflower to pan
Step 7 - Drain sweet potatoes and mash with coconut oil and salt
Step 8 - Spread mashed sweet potatoes over top of the entire baking pan
Step 9 - Cook covered with foil for 25 minutes and then uncover for remaining 20 minutes until gravy is bubbling around the edges
Once you have the sweet potatoes covering the rest of the ingredients you can take a fork and score lines into the top layer of the sweet potatoes. This will allow, at least in theory, the top layer to crust up a little bit in the oven. Truthfully this is just a leftover process from making shepherd's pie with mashed potatoes which are more inclined to get crispy. I am a sucker for tradition so I still do it even though sweet potatoes don't really crisp up like regular potatoes do.
You want to retain the moisture from the veggies as this dish comes up to temperature slowly in the oven so it is a good idea to cover it while it cooks for the first 25 minutes or so. I like to wait until I can see gravy bubbling up around the edges of the pan before I take it out of the oven. This can result in some bubbling over so it might be a good idea to have a pan under this dish of shepherd's pie to catch this mess.
How to cook a turkey
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About the author - Steve Goodale is a blogger and technical specialist from Ontario Canada, winner of the 2018 Industry Leadership Award, who reaches over three million readers per year with his popular pool and spa blog. Steve started the www.CookForMeBaby.com blog about healthy eating after being diagnosed with a rare and incurable autoimmune disease. You can read more on his story about life with MCTD here. For more healthy cooking inspiration check out his other delicious recipes.
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