This was one of our most popular dishes on our lunch menu in the restaurant. It was particularly popular with the more mature of our customers. I think that could be because the original Shepherd’s Pie was a regular as they were growing up and it is a comfort dish to many of us.
As many of us who moved from an animal-based diet to a plant-based diet know, just because we no longer eat meat dishes, that does not always mean that we don’t miss some of those dishes. When we find a plant-based version of a meat-based dish we favoured that is close to the original version, we go for it and stick with it. This recipe is one such dish.
I will admit that the recipe has a large ingredient list and more steps than we’d probably like. I can guarantee that once you make it once or twice, it will become second nature. One of the brilliant things with this recipe is it can be made in advance, it reheats beautifully, and it freezes like a dream. I freeze mine without the potato topping.
Once you get the hang of it, you can make a large batch, portion, and freeze and rest happy knowing that you have some comforting soul food ready at hand.
Ingredients:
2 Red onions, finely diced
4 Gloves of Garlic, finely diced
2 Tablespoons of Rapeseed oil
1 Carrot, finely diced
1 Red pepper, finely diced
1 Yellow pepper, finely diced
1 Tablespoon of Porcini paste (if you can’t get the paste, use powder, if you can’t get that either, use dried Porcini or mixed wild mushrooms and grind them into a powder).
1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (the older the better)
1 Tablespoon of Tamarind paste
1 teaspoon of each: garlic salt, onion salt and celery salt
1 Tablespoon of smoked paprika
2 cans of chopped tomatoes
1 Tablespoon of sugar
300 grams of cooked Adzuki beans, rinsed (canned is fine)
500 grams of vegetable stock
2 handfuls of frozen peas
Method:
1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, on a medium heat, cook the onions in the oil until translucent.
2. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
3. Add the carrot and peppers, continue to cook, stirring occasionally until the carrot is starting to soften.
4. Add all the other ingredients except the beans and peas, stir well, cover and simmer until the carrots are fully cooked.
5. If the adzuki beans are warm, add at the same time as the peas. If they are cold, add them 5 minutes before the peas to allow them to come to temperature.
6. If the sauce is too thick, add some water a little at a time. If the sauce is too thin, simmer without the lid for the last 10 minutes.
7. Transfer to deep oven dish, top with creamy potato and bake until the potato is browned to your liking.
Creamy Mashed Potato Recipe
Of course, you can make your mashed potatoes whatever way you darn well want. This recipe is a favourite in my home and it’s a great way to get some additional nutrients into us.
Ingredients:
100 grams Raw cashew nuts, soaked. (You can either soak overnight or before you cook the potatoes, pour boiling water over the nuts and cover with clingfilm until you need them).
2 kilos of a good floury potato. I use Wexford Queens when they are available.
2 Tablespoons of Nutritional yeast
4 Tablespoons of your favourite plant-based milk
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of ground white pepper
Method:
1. Boil the potatoes, remove skins from about half of them.
2. Blend the nuts for a couple of seconds until a coarse paste forms
3. Add the potatoes and nutritional yeast and blend well.
4. Add the milk, salt and pepper to taste.
Don’t want creamy mash? Then from method step 3. bash with a potato masher until the consistency you want.
Shepherd-less Pie Recipe was originally published in TheCandiedHazelnut on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
