Shepherd's Pie - Vegan Style

Back in October, I swayed from my veganism quite a bit. With plenty of visits to happy hour, I found myself consuming cheese fries, quesadillas, and even buffalo wings. One night, after spending more money than I needed to, only to be feeling icky and bloated, I decided I needed to snap out of this self destructive routine and get my mind and body, back on track. As we left the frequented establishment, I asked my husband to go to Target; earlier in the week I came across a cookbook there that really peaked my interest. I ran into Target and when straight for it. The next two nights I spent looking over all the recipes and tips throughout the book (which I commonly do with cookbooks) and was pleasantly surprised at the simplicity of most of the recipes.

The book is written by chef Roberto Martin and is called Vegan Cooking For Carnivores. Martin is the private chef to Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres (two people that I didn't know followed a vegan lifestyle - news to you as well?). Like I mentioned, most of the recipes are practical and I have now made four things from the book and they all were delicious. Below is the adaptive recipe (only made some seasoning and execution changes) for the shepherd's pie. This is a wonderful dish to incorporate into your meal plan to please everyone (including the most indulgent carnivores.)

Looks yummy right? With a slice of garlic toast on the side...

• 1 cup dried lentils (used green)
• 2 lbs russet potatoes, mashed
• 4 TBSP vegan butter (such as Earth Balance), melted
• 1/2 cup almond or soy milk
• 1 TBSP chopped chives (optional - and I used green onions)
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 white or yellow onion (diced)
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
• 3 celery stalks (minced)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas and carrot mix 
• 1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 3 TBSP all-purpose flour (unbleached)
• salt and pepper

Preheat over to 420 degrees

Cook lentils in about an inch of cold water for 20 minutes. Lentils will be underdone but will cook further later. Drain excess liquid (if any)

Make mashed potatoes; use standard cooking method but once drained, mash and add melted butter, milk and chopped chives. Season with salt and pepper to taste

In a saute pan, heat olive oil.

Once hot, add diced onions-saute for 5 minutes or until they show color, add garlic, celery, salt, and  thyme and cook for another 3 minutes

Sprinkle flour over the vegetable mixture and stir in - then slowly add vegetable broth

Stir in lentils and simmer then mixture for around 5 minutes (you will see the mixture thicken)

Add peas and carrots to lentil mixture and season with salt and pepper to taste

Spread mixture into an 13x9 baking dish and top with the mashed potatoes (making sure the edges are covered with potatoes to prevent mixture from bubbling over

Bake for 25 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown, and let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving

As you can see, this is a slightly labor intensive recipe. I made the mistake of not looking over the cooking steps beforehand and chose to start making this dish around 5:30pm on a weekday night and wasn't ready until close to 7pm (sounds early but not when the husband goes to bed around 8pm). This would be a great recipe to make on a Sunday night and have left overs for a couple days...either way, it is delicious and worth the effort!

Enjoy :)