Want a very simple family favourite made to look like it came from someone that knows what they are doing in the kitchen? Then this is the dish for you to serve! The main attraction – the potato rose, is really simple to make and looks amazing! There’s a beautiful mix of spices used through the mince to flavour it too. If you’re vegan or vegetarian, you could definitely make something similar using lentils.
The sweet potato rose
The sweet potato rose is my ‘potato topping’ for the shepherds pie, however you could still mash some potato and have it underneath and around the rose if you prefer the mash texture. I would probably do both next time and then just pop a sprinkle of cheese over the mash as I’ve done here to help the rose really ‘pop’.
How to make this stunning sweet potato rose
Talk about kitchen secrets. There’s an amazing new little machine called a Veggie Sheet Slicer. No doubt you’ve heard of a spiraliser and the amazing zoodle recipes you can create with them. Well this is the new food tool trend – the Veggie Sheet Slicer. You can slice zucchinis, carrots, eggplant, potato, sweet potato, beetroot, apples and more! So to make the sweet potato rose you simply use this tool to make some sheets then roll them up with a slight overlay as you add each new sheet.
I was gifted one of these to try and have had fun playing around with it, as you might have seen in the instagram live video I did while baking this! See below for a demonstration of how it works.
- 1 tbs cobram estate extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 1 onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smokey paprika
- 1 tsp ground chilli
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- salt and pepper to taste
- 500g beef mince OR 400g can lentils, rinsed, drained
- 2 celery sticks, chopped finely
- 1 carrot, diced finely
- 1 medium eggplant
- 1 large zucchini
- 1 unpeeled medium sweet potato (2 if you also want mash around your rose)
- 1 400g can diced tomatoes
- tasty cheese or jalsburg cheese to top
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
- In a medium size pan heat your EVOO then cook your onion and garlic until cooked through.
- Add the spices and stir until fragrant.
- Add the mince OR lentils (if taking the vegan option), carrots and celery and cook stirring until browned.
- Meanwhile, use the Veggie Sheet Slicer to cut the eggplant and zucchini into strips. Place into a large bowl and par cook by pouring boiling water over the strips for 1 minute. Drain water.
- In a cake tin or round casserole dish place the par cooked zucchini and eggplant strips and cover the base.
- Then place the mince on top, spreading evenly.
- Cut one of the unpeeled sweet potatoes into strips using the Veggie Sheet Slicer.
- Join and slightly overlap the sweet potato strips until they reach approximately 80 cm in length. If the sheet width is too large for the height you want your rose to be you can cut it in half keeping the rough side of the sheet facing up (this gives the petal effect). Roll the potato ribbon loosely.
- Place the potato rose on top pushing into the mince to hold.
- Around the outer of the rose you might like to use the second sweet potato to make mash to put around the rose. Top this area around the rose with cheese.
- Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until rose petals have softened and cheese has melted.
Want more healthy recipe ideas? Find all our recipes here.
Amy Darcy
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