This is a favorite meal of Spencer and me—even Sadie loves it! I created it based on a couple of different Rachel Ray recipes. It’s nutrient and flavor packed and you don’t have to worry about making any sides. This recipe makes a lot so we always freeze at least half of it for another day. Bonus: it reheats well. (To reheat it from frozen just set the oven to 350° Bake it with tinfoil on for 1 hour and then bake for another hour with the tinfoil off.)
Approximately 2 lbs sweet potatoes
4 stalks of celery
4 large carrots
1 large to medium onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 lbs of ground turkey
1 can of beef broth (or beef stock)
1 can of chicken broth (or stock)
Parmesean Cheese (the freshly grated kind is best)
Bacon crumbles (you can use cooked turkey bacon if you have the time)
3-4 tbls Butter
(you can use less butter to be healthier, but make sure you’re butter to flour ratio is equal)
3-4 tbls Flour
Worchester Sauce
Hot sauce
Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper
Honey and lemon optional
Peel and cube the sweet potatoes. (try to make all the pieces about the same size so they’ll cook evenly) Put the potatoes in a large stockpot and cover with water. Put the pot on a back burner at a med-high to high range to cook through while you make the rest.
Warm a large skillet at Med-High and drizzle with olive oil. Add the ground turkey. (Let the turkey sit in the pan for a little while without stirring it so it can get a nice brown color on the bottom side) Add some salt and pepper. While the turkey starts to cook, chop up your onion and garlic and add them to the skillet. (You’ve probably waited long enough to start stirring the meat nowJ) Add a small dash of nutmeg (maybe about ¼ tsp) to the ground meat mixture. Then chop and add your carrots and celery. Cook until celery and carrots are tender
While meat and veggies are cooking, start melting butter in a small saucepan. When the butter is melted, whisk in the flour. Let that cook for a couple of minutes and then, while whisking, add the can of beef broth. You may not need the entire can. Add it slowly enough to gauge how much you want—you’re making a gravy out of it for your meat. The sauce will take a little while to thicken so while you’re whisking away the lumps, add the Worchester sauce (this is to your preference. I start pouring and then slowly count to 6. I think I end up putting in about 1/3 cup) and a few dashes of hot sauce. If you like the nutmeg flavor, you can add some more here. Other herbs that are good in this are rosemary, thyme, and white pepper.
While waiting for the gravy to thicken up (make sure to check on your meat and veggies! You can turn the burner off if they’re cooked through—you don’t want to burn them if you’ve gotten this far!) drain the sweet potatoes and then return them to your stock pot. Add a couple of handfuls of parmesan cheese and add enough chicken stock to make the potatoes nice and creamy—again, add the stock slowly. Mash the potatoes and add more liquid until they’re the consistency you like.
*Optional Tangy Sweet Smashed Potatoes: You can also add the juice from ½ to 1 whole lemon and a couple of table spoons of honey. This makes them tangy and sweet, but sometimes I think it’s too many flavors for what’s going on. If you feel like just chicken stock and parmesan aren’t making the potatoes creamy enough, you can add a few splashes of milk.
You’re gravy should be nice and thick and now all you need to do is put it together! In a large casserole dish (or two smaller ones which is what I like to do so I can easily freeze one of them) spread the meat and veggie mixture on the bottom. Pour the gravy over the meat and veggies. Spread the sweet potatoes on top in a nice thick layer. Finally sprinkle the top with parmesan and bacon crumbles. Broil the dish for a few minutes—until you can see the gravy bubbling through the glass pan—and enjoy! (You don’t need to broil it if you don’t want to since everything is cooked through. I like to broil it to brown the top and let the gravy bubble through the meat and veggies so I can get all the flavors. It’s up to you. Just remember broiling often goes from looking undone to burnt really fast, so keep a close eye on it.)
