Shepherd's Pie

This is such a comforting dish packed with delicious veggies! As traditional Shepherd's Pie contains ground beef, I have decided to substitute that for lentils and mushrooms to give it that hearty, meaty texture.

Ingredients

(Serves 6)

Filling:

2 cloves of garlic

1 onion

1 tin of green or brown lentils (I used green in this recipe)

1 red chilli

1 cup of peas

2 carrots (diced)

250g of mushrooms (I like chestnut mushrooms)

2 stalks of celery (diced)

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

100ml red wine

1 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)

1 vegetable stock cube (just throw it in)

2 tbsp flour or cornstarch

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp oregano

Salt/pepper

Mashed Potatoes:

5 medium sized potatoes

1 parsnip (optional - I just had a few in the fridge and added it)

1 tbsp vegan butter (optional)

Generous splash of almond milk (or plant milk of choice)

1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

Salt/pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C or 390F.

2. Chop your potatoes and parsnips into thick chunks and boil them until they are tender enough to mash.

3. Add a tbsp olive oil or water if you don't want to use oil to a large pan and sauté the onion, garlic and chilli. After a few minutes add in the celery, carrots, and mushrooms.

4. Once the mushrooms have started to release water and reduce in size, then add in the lentils and peas.

5. Add in the red wine and let it simmer for a few minutes.

6. Now add in the rest of the ingredients for the filling: tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, all spices, vegetable stock cube, and tamari.

7. Add in the flour to help thicken and bring everything together - stir well.

8. Let the sauce simmer on a low heat for around 10 minutes until everything is bound together nicely and the sauce has thickened.

9. By now the potatoes and parsnip should be soft enough to mash. Drain the water and mash the potatoes and parsnip, adding in the almond milk, vegan butter, nutritional yeast and salt/pepper. Continue adding almond milk until you reach your desired consistency for the mashed potatoes.

10. In a baking dish, add in the filling vegetable mixture as the base and then top it with the mashed potatoes. Let it bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the mashed potatoes turn golden.

#veganshepherdspie #shepherdspie