I am a huge fan of batch cooking. If you want to feed your family a healthy diet and not spend hours and hours in the kitchen every day, you need to cook in bulk. Some things like casseroles, curries and shepherds pie lend themselves to cooking in bulk. I love Shepherd’s pie, but this one has a twist as the topping is sweet potato, rather than white potato.

The recipe below will make enough for 3 meals for a family of 2 adults and 2-3 kids.

Ingredients

2kg lamb mince (preferably organic)

3kg sweet potato

Lots of fresh rosemary

4 onions (finely chopped)

2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped or crushed)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Brown the mince in a sauce pan on medium to high heat for 5-10 minutes.

Add the onions and garlic.

Use a food processor to grind up the rosemary to a fine dust, and add to the saucepan.

Whilst the mince is simmering, start to prepare the sweet potato topping.

Chop up the sweet potato (no need to peel as long as it looks clean. Just give them a wash).

Add to a saucepan of water, and cook until tender. This will take roughly 15 minutes, depending on how small you cut them.

After the meat mixture has been cooking for about 30 minutes, pour off the liquid that has formed, into a pyrex jug.

Divide the mince evenly between 3 medium size casserole / pie dishes, that are freezer safe. I use stainless steel ones which are suitable for oven and freezer.

When the sweet potatoes are ready, drain off the water, and mash. Add the reserved liquid from the meat to the mash to make it smooth.

Add the sweet potato mash topping to the mince, dividing evenly between the 3 dishes.

Use a fork to score the top.

Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Eat one, and keep the other 2 in the freezer for another day.

Serve with green beans.