Farmers Pie - Like Shepherds pie with more vitamins!

Following in the theme of the National Post article I thought todays recipe would be a perfect follow up to creative comfort food. Cold weather always makes me feel like comfort food and Shepherds pie definitely one of those dishes. Shepherds or Cottage pie is a delicious stick to your ribs classic. It's usually made up of minced beef or lamb buttery mashed potatoes and can sometimes include chopped carrots, green peas or sweet corn.  I've created my own version using a carrot puree and tons of veggies topped with broccoli confetti. 
INGREDIENTS: 
ground lamb - about 1-1 1/2 pounds
4 carrots - peeled and rough chopped 
small cooking onion - finely chopped
2 garlic cloves - minced
red pepper - finely chopped
green pepper - finely chopped 
1/2 cup corn - kernels 
broccoli tops - just the tips cut off
dijon mustard - 2 tsp
thyme - dry or fresh about 1 tbs
mint - dry or fresh about 1 tbs
pinch of cinnamon 
drizzle olive oil 
s &p to taste 
1/2 cup beef/ veg stock or water
PREP: chop all veggies. Pre heat oven to 350. 
COOK: 
For carrot puree: in a small pot simmer carrots in about 1/2 cup of liquid until the carrots are soft. You can use beef/ chicken or vegetable stock - water is fine as well. When carrots are soft puree with 1tsp of dijon mustard until smooth with immersion blender, or cuisinart. Add more liquid if mixture is to thick. A tsp of butter can also be added if you're not counting calories. 
* sweet potatocan be substituted for carrots if you prefer. 


For meat mixture: In a large pan heat olive oil and sautee onions until translucent, add garlic peppers and corn a pinch of s&p. Cook for about 5 mins until tender. Remove from heat, and place in a separate bowl. Heat the pan until medium high and  add ground lamb. With a wooden spoon or heat resistant spatula begin chopping the meat so that it doesn't clump together when cooking. Add a pinch of s&p, then thyme and pinch of cinnamon (if using fresh mint ad at the very end of cooking, if using dry add now). continue to cook until all the pink is out of the meat. Remove (pour out) excess fat from the pan before adding cooked veggies to the mixture. 


To assemble: In a baking tray or individual ramekins place meat mixture on the bottom, then a layer of carrot puree and broccoli confetti on top. Bake for 20 mins until golden on top.