Thursday, January 21, 2010

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

I'm not doing a very good job of updating my blog (and reading blogs) right now! School, work and life are definitely keeping me busy. Oh and I got engaged so now add wedding planning into the mix! =)


I don't think I've ever had regular shepherd's pie - things with ground beef never appealed to me when I used to eat meat. And as a vegetarian, the fake veggie ground round version of shepherd's pie never sounded too great either. Then I came across this recipe for shepherd's pie in my beloved The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest. It has no ground round/fake meat products and instead (as the recipe says) is "a vegetable hash on the bottom, and garlicky mashed potatoes on top". What's not to love about that? I was expecting it to keep together better (bind better) but it all kind of mooshed around. Which was fine and delicious. This shepherd's pie is like mashed potatoes with lots of vegetables and a sort of vegetable gravy. I don't imagine it's very authentic but it was good and that is, of course, the important thing!


Here's Abby playing with one of her new toys. Sadly she's already broken the string! She really loved this one.


If this sounds good, you might also like:
Frijoles, Etc. Casserole
Chayote and Corn Enchiladas
Fresh Pear and Curry Pasta
Artichoke Rotini Pasta

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
Adapted from The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest

Mashed potato topping (Make this first):
2 large potatoes
1 tbsp butter (or oil)
1/2 cup milk
3 large cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper, to taste
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

Vegetable Hash:
1 tbsp oil
1 1/2 cups minced onions
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
fresh black pepper to taste
1 stalk celery, finely minced
1 lb mushrooms, chopped
1 lb zucchini, diced
1 medium bell pepper, minced
2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (leave out to make vegan)
cayenne to taste
paprika

Make the mashed potato topping:

Peel or scrub the potatoes, and cut them into 1 inch chunks. Cook in plenty of boiling water until soft. Drain and transfer to a medium-large bowl. Add butter, garlic, and milk, and mash well. Add salt and black pepper to taste, and stir in the parsley. Set aside.

Make the vegetable hash (and assembly):

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Have ready a 2 quart casserole or its equivalent (ex. a 9x13 baking pan).

2. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet or a Dutch oven. Add the onion, and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until it begins to soften.

3. Add garlic, salt, pepper, celery, mushrooms, zucchini, and bell pepper. Stir until well combined, cover, and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the herbs, stir, and cover again. Cook for about 5 more minutes, or until the zucchini is perfectly tender. Remove from heat.

4. Stir in the peas and cheese. Add cayenne to taste. Transfer this mixture to the casserole or baking pan, and spread it out.

5. Spoon and./or spread the mashed potatoes over the vegetables. Dust generously with paprika.

6. Bake uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and bubbly around the edges.

37 comments:

Chef Aimee said...

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT!
:)

THanks for sharing this, too! I love Shepherd's pie, and this is a really nice alternative to not feel so guilty eating it. :)

Bryan said...

i love the photo of your cat, so cute! I love Shepherd's pie too, especially if wifey cooks it for me, the best in the world!

Sarah S. said...

Congrats on your engagement! really wonderful :)

Unknown said...

i've made something like this before using mashed cauliflower on top. So good! Congrats on your engagement!!!!! that's so exciting!

Erin {Plus Sized Pretty} said...

Oooh, I've been looking for a soy crumble free shepherd's pie recipe for months now! I've made it before with crumbles and liked the idea (as i never had regular shepherd's pie before I was veg) but have never been a huge fan of crumbles. Thanks for sharing!

The Maven said...

First of all, congratulations on getting engaged! That's wonderful news :)

Second, that pie looks absolutely nummy. Shepherd's pie is one of the things I miss the most about not eating meat. I never liked ground beef much, either, but the veggie ground round stuff is even worse to me. I'm a texture person, and it just doesn't cut it. I'm going to give this one a try this week. Can't wait. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

WOW! Congrats on your engagement!! And thanks for keeping up your beautiful recipes despite the craziness :)

fresh365 said...

CONGRATULATIONS!! What an exciting year this will be! I have a vegetarian shephards pie on my to-do list and I completly agree with the no meat substitutes. Can't wait to try this!

L-Burt said...

Congrats on the engagement! I'm currently planning my wedding as well. It's crazy.

This looks delicious! I've always avoided Shepard's Pie too and hate fake meat things, so this looks great!

kelly.dee said...

So funny you posted this because I made a veggie shepherd's pie last night using the ground round. It's one of my favourite dishes.

This one looks different and tasty too though!

Congrats on the engagement!

strangeaslife said...

I was raised vegetarian and my family has shephard's pie at least once in every 2 week period, if not once a week. lol. We love the stuff! We always make it the same and it's delicious. Even my sister's husband who is a super meat eater loves the stuff. Anyway, this looks like something a little different that might be nice to try. Yum!

And congratulations on the engagement. :)

Yesica N. Cook said...

Congratulations!! This looks delicious, and Abby is adorable.

Mini Baker said...

congrats on your engagement! veggie shepherd's pie looks and sounds delish!

Hannah said...

I'm not crazy about pot pies because of all the extra, bland pastry, but shepard's pies on the other hand are awesome! I've never actually made one myself, so perhaps I aught to change that now... Looks like a good recipe to start with. :)

grace said...

oh, and by the way, i'm engaged? that's how you tell us?! congrats. :)
meanwhile, this pie is awesome--plenty of delicious veggies topped with some creamy parsley-ed potatoes sounds perfect to me.

Dana said...

Looks delicious to me - I could eat mashed potatoes on anything. Congratulations on the engagement! Fantastic news!

The Blonde Duck said...

Popped in from Lynn's to say hi! Congratulations! I hope you had some more of those blondies to celebrate!

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

Congratulations! I am so excited for you.

Love that cookbook but never tried that recipe. I usually make my Shepperd pie with lentil on the bottom, veggies in the middle and then garlic mashed potatoes on top.

Kristin (Book Sniffers Anonymous) said...

Congrats on the engagement. I am always looking for new vegetarian dishes. This sounds really good.

PageRank Check said...

wow seems delicious love to try it

Jessica @ Jessiker Bakes said...

Congratulations on your engagement! I've always wanted to try shepherd's pie but I don't eat beef...maybe I can try this one :). Looks pretty yummy!

Mark Scarbrough said...

Me, too. No ground beef. Or "loose meat" as we called it growing up in Texas. And the fake stuff? It's OK. I wouldn't write home about it. This recipe sounds much better to me.

Sania said...

hi! I just discovered this blog like two days ago, and I am in love with it. I'm currently pilfering through the archives, trying to read all of them.
One thing I noticed, however, or maybe it was because none of them are tagged, is that I can't find any cupcakes, which is tragic because I love cupcakes. Do you have any good recipes for red velvet cupcakes?

kimberleyblue said...

Congratulations! Do you have an idea of around when the wedding date will be?

I don't like regular shepherd's pie either, though we often make a veggie version using the veggie ground round...it's pretty good if you mix it up with spice and such!

This sounds better though - definitely looks fantastic.

eatme_delicious said...

Sunny: Aw I'm so happy you're enjoying my blog that much. =) I don't usually make cupcakes, but practically any cake recipe can be made into cupcakes. And no I haven't made red velvet cupcakes before, sorry!

Cookie baker Lynn said...

Congratulations on the engagement! That's super exciting!

Who could resist that shepherd's pie? (Besides my weird son who's the only boy on the planet who doesn't like mashed potatoes.)

Cathy said...

This was good! It went down really well, and this was a group of people who don't really like courgettes or mushrooms.

It was veganised too, so I can vouch for it being tasty if you're that way inclined!

I need to cook more often from your blog =)

Misty said...

Congrats on the engagement! This dish looks wonderfully comforting for the cold weather we're having in my neck of the woods. And those string toys for cats are the best, though they always break so soon.

Johanna GGG said...

congratulations on getting engaged - good luck with your wedding plans - bet there will be an excellent cake

I have made the shepherd's pie in the old enchanted broccoli forest cookbook and loved it - must make it again

Neomi said...

Congrats on your engagement! I really love your blog too. Vegetarian Shepard's pie sounds really nice--I recently tried a new vegetarian moussaka recipe which I loved so I must give this a try.

Ricki said...

Congrats again on the engagement! :D I soooo hear you on the "not having enough time to read/comment" thing (just look at the gap between this comment and when you posted!). But it's the thought that counts, right? ;) Coincidentally, I was just at a friend's house for dinner the other night and she served the best vegan shepherd's pie, much like this one, except w/ a sweet potato topping. Superb!

Deborah said...

Congrats on the engagement!! It seems like just yesterday that I got married (even though it's been over 4 years now!) so I remember how much work goes into it. Your shepherd's pie looks great!

L-Burt said...

I made this yesterday and it was fantastic! Thanks again!

Cynthia Z said...

I made this the other day and it tasted SO good... even with using dry parsley instead of fresh, and reconstituting potato pearls.
I warmed up leftovers for lunch today and was LOVING it :)

Anonymous said...

I only recently discovered your blog and this is the first recipe I've made. Because of my lack of a correctly sized casserole dish, and the odd absence of zucchini at the grocery store today, I had to do some major changes to the recipe (including trying red chard for the first time... your most recent post intrigued me).

ANYWAYS. Conclusion. Absolutely amazing. I couldn't believe how delicious. I'm not a measurer for spices and just put in a LOT of every spice, which made it fabulous. Love the cayenne kick. Oh also, adding corn to this is phenomenal.

eatme_delicious said...

Cynthia Z: I haven't heard of potato pearls - sounds intriguing! Glad you enjoyed it. :)

Anonymous: Yaey glad you enjoyed this! I love that you added in lots of all the spices as I always prefer highly flavoured dishes.

Nannerz said...

A little late, but I just made the most delicious shepherds pie! I did use the fake meat. I add a can of cream of mushroom soup, fresh zucchini, carrots, onion, peas, garlic. Instead of mashed potatoes, I steam and mash cauliflower with a few tablespoons of half n half. Topped with some fresh shredded parm cheese and paprika and WOW, it came out really really good!