Paleo Cottage Pie
Servings Prep Time
6-8persons 15minutes
Cook Time
1hour
Servings Prep Time
6-8persons 15minutes
Cook Time
1hour
Ingredients
  • 2heads CauliflowerOrganic, Large
  • 3Tbsp GheeOrganic
  • 1Tbsp Coconut OilOrganic Virgin
  • 1cup OnionOrganic, Chopped
  • 1cup CarrotOrganic, Chopped
  • 1/2cup CeleryOrganic, Chopped
  • 1clove garlicMinced fine
  • 2pounds Ground MeatTurkey or Grass Fed Beef
  • 1pint Beef BrothOrganic
  • 1Tbsp Arrowroot Powder
  • Kosher Salt
  • Black Pepper
  • Coconut Flour
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375F
  2. Make Cauliflower Mash: Cut up Cauliflower and steam 10-15 minutes until tender. Puree with an immersion blender with 2 Tbsp Ghee. You could also use a food processor or blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Thicken with arrowroot powder or coconut flour: Add one tsp at a time and mix through until desired consistency reached.
  3. Prep the Vegetables: Chop the onions, carrots and celery into a medium dice.
  4. Saute the Vegetables: Melt 1 Tbsp coconut oil in a large deep pan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring regularly, for 5-7 minutes until onions become translucent. Add garlic and cook another minute or two.
  5. Cook the Meat: Add the ground meat and one quarter of the beef stock. Turn the heat up to Medium High and cook, stirring constantly until all the meat is browned (about 7-8 minutes). Add the remaining stock, season with 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Reduce the heat back to medium, cover with a tight fitting lid and cook for 15 minutes more.
  6. Make thickening paste: While the meat is cooking, mash 1 Tbsp arrowroot powder together with 1 Tbsp ghee with a spoon in a small dish.
  7. Taste and Thicken: When the meat is done, check for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Add the ghee/arrowroot paste to the ground meat sauce in small pieces. Stir it in until it has dissolved. The sauce should thicken slightly and there should not be too much liquid in the bottom of the pan.
  8. Assemble Paleo Cottage Pie: Place the meat sauce into a 8 x 12 baking dish.
  9. Spread the mashed Cauliflower over the top.
  10. Bake at 375F for 30-35 minutes until the topping begins to brown. Remove from oven and plate with a Slope Paleo salad!
Recipe Notes

This recipe was adapted from Elaine Lemm’s Classic Cottage Pie Recipe on theSpruce.com.  It was paleoized by replacing the mashed potato with a cauliflower mash, replacing lard with coconut oil, replacing butter and flour with ghee and arrowroot powder.  My recipe also adds celery and changes the proportion of meat in the dish; I omit parsley (I never seem to have it on hand and the kids don’t like it) and optional mushrooms (again, I apologize to the fungus lovers out there – I am not one of you).

This recipe makes a fairly large cottage pie – enough to serve 6-8.  It contains almost twice as much meat as the original recipe so it would scale down easily by using only a pound of ground meat and the proportion of other ingredients also reduced.  It also has a lot less broth in proportion given there is less meat.  As I bake this in a single dish, it would be too liquid to serve individual portions from it.  However, if you want to bake it in single serving sized dishes, the added liquid would be a nice touch, though you should make sure that it is thickened enough.

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