Sweet Berber Pie

PIE

I am cultivating a relationship with the sweet potato beyond the Thanksgiving table. Thus far I've successfully incorporated sweet potatoes into curries and chilis (next up: Sweet Potato Challah). But no experiment to date has gone as well as the Sweet Berber Pie.

I wanted to reboot the standard Shepherd's Pie recipe with sweet potatoes, lamb, and supporting flavors from the Moroccan/North African region (hence the Berber name, taken from the Berber people of Morocco). The flavors turned out almost exactly as I planned and I will definitely make this again. Here's the recipe:

1 lb. ground lamb or beef (or substitute 2 cups cooked farro/kamut for meatless version)

2 sweet onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 Cup Pine Nuts, toasted

2/3 Cup Dried Fruit: currants, golden raisins, cranberries, apricots, plums, macerated in red wine/orange juice

Spices: cumin, cinnamon, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, Aleppo pepper

Chopped Raw Kale, about 2 cups

Cooked Sweet Potato, I used 3 medium-sized

Butter, Orange Juice, Salt & Pepper to taste

Agave Syrup

1 Head Cauliflower

1/2 Cup+ Chopped Pistachios

Pomegranate Arils

Meat Layer:

Toast pine nuts and set aside. Macerate dried fruit in red wine and/or orange juice. Brown ground meat with salt and pepper and set aside; sauté onion and garlic in drippings. Add chopped kale and cook 2-3 minutes until kale is wilted. Add ground spices and bloom 1-2 minutes. Add meat and toasted pine nuts back to pan. Add macerated fruit and liquid and stir to combine. Pour into a casserole dish lightly sprayed with nonstick spray.

Cauliflower Layer:

Begin with a raw head of cauliflower, remove outer leaf stems but do not core. Grate ½ Cup of raw cauliflower on largest side of box grater and set grated cauliflower aside. Set head on flat side and cut ½” slices. Brush lightly with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and garam masala and bake in a 400 degree oven until edges are starting to brown. Layer baked slices of cauliflower, or break up into bite-sized chunks and scatter, over the browned lamb.

Sweet Potato Layer:

Bake or steam sweet potato until cooked and press through a ricer. Add butter, salt, pepper and orange juice and mash. Spoon mashed sweet potato over cauliflower slices.

Topping:

Toss grated cauliflower and chopped pistachios with salt, garam masala and a drizzle each of olive oil and agave syrup. Scatter over mashed sweet potato. Bake 25-30 minutes at 375 or until topping and edges are starting to brown. Finish with pomegranate arils before serving.

Vegetarian/Vegan Mod:

Prepare farro or kamut according to directions (you could use couscous but I think a heartier, chewier grain would be more satisfying). Saute onion and garlic in olive or coconut oil and follow remaining directions for meat layer, substituting grain for meat in the final mix. Coconut oil can also be substituted in sweet potato mash for a fully vegan dish.