Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
Servings: 4
A delicious, warming vegetarian dish, this Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie is one of my all time favourite meatless Monday meals.
Ingredients
- 1 onion/s (large) finely diced
- 2 clove/s garlic -finely diced
- 2 carrot/s -diced
- 1 zucchini/s -diced
- 2 stick/s celery -sliced
- 130 g mushrooms (approx. 1 cup) diced
- 2 cup/s cooked brown lentils (or 2 cans, drained and rinsed)
- 425 g diced tinned tomatoes
- 250 ml vegetable stock (1 cup)
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves -roughly chopped
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp hot water
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 5-6 potato/s -peeled and diced into 1-2cm cubes
- 20 g parmesan cheese -grated (optional) (¼ cup)
- 30 g sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200°C/395°F.
- In a medium sized pot, sauté your onion and garlic in a little oil for a few minutes until opaque.
- Add the carrots, zucchini, celery, mushrooms, lentils, tomatoes, stock, rosemary, smoked paprika, Worcestershire sauce and seasoning.
- Bring to a simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix the water and cornflour until combined and add to the pot to thicken for a few more minutes.
- Pour into an oven proof dish and top with the diced potato (and optional cheese and seeds). Stud with any extra rosemary sprigs if you like.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the potato is golden and cooked through.
Thermomix method
- Preheat your oven to 200℃.
- Chop your onions and garlic, 3 seconds, speed 5. Scrape down the sides and cook 5 minutes, temp 100, speed 1 in a little olive oil.
- Add the carrots, zucchini, celery, and process 10 seconds, speed 4.
- Now add the sliced mushrooms (I don't like to process them, but you can if you prefer), lentils, tomatoes, stock, rosemary, paprika and seasoning. Cook 10 minutes, temp 100, reverse speed 1.
- Add the cornflour/water mixture and cook 5 minutes, temp 100, reverse speed 1. Pour into an oven proof dish and top with the diced potato (and optional cheese and seeds). Stud with any extra rosemary sprigs if you like.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the potato is golden and cooked through.
- Note - you can top with traditional mashed potato if you like. I'm a lazy, time-poor cook and always looking for shortcuts in the kitchen (and ways to reduce washing up)! This is one saves time and washing, but I don't think alters the taste too much - in fact, I love the crispy baked spuds on top.
Make-ahead
- Re-heat in a low oven until just hot.
Serve
- With a leafy green salad.
Store
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Can also be frozen.
Cook the Lentils
- To cook the lentils, soak in water and a tablespoon of natural yoghurt or apple cider vinegar to produce easily digestible legumes. Soaked lentils can then be cooked by simmering for 15 minutes or until tender but not sloppy. Un-soaked lentils should be rinsed and cooked for 30-45 minutes. 1 cup of raw lentils yields approximately 2 cups cooked.