A meaty, hearty and easy veggie Shepherd’s Pie; made with a saucy mushroom and ground round stew, filled with corn, peas and carrots, and topped with fluffy mashed potato.
A meaty, hearty and easy veggie Shepherd’s Pie; made with a saucy mushroom and ground round stew, filled with corn, peas and carrots, and topped with fluffy mashed potato, who on earth doesn’t love Shepherd’s pie? Don’t get it twisted, I’m not about to make you cook up some boring potato dish. This recipe rivals even the meatiest Shepherd’s pie dishes out there. Also, you don’t need an Irish holiday as an excuse to eat like the Irish. Shepherd’s pie is for the Irish at heart. It’s a classic comfort food that probably hit your dinner table regularly while growing up, and for good reason.
During the days of British India, the Indian cooks dubbed the dish ‘tiffin’, which basically means a perfect light snack. Although I may not agree that this dish is light per se, it definitely serves as an excellent snack, lunch, or dinner. It’s also a prime pre or post drinking meal for St.Patties day for all you hooligans out there. So let me spill the beans (magic beans of course) on this dish. Trust me, any eejit can pull this off…
… so stuff your gob and get on with it. You dig? (See more Irish slang terms here).
Start by preheating your oven to 400F. The meaty filling for this shepherds pie is going to be made extra meaty with veggie ground road and mushrooms. Mushrooms have a delicious meaty and hearty texture and earthy flavour that mimics animal-based meat. In a large saucepan, heat vegetable or coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and minced garlic and sauté for 3 to 5 mins, or until translucent. Add finely chopped mushrooms and sauté for 5 mins, until mushrooms are tender and reduced in size by half. Add veggie ground round (I like Yves or Beyond Meat), water, dry red wine, ½ can of tomato paste, vegan Worcestershire, veggie or no-beef bouillon, mustard powder, bay leaf, pepper, and rosemary, and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan or pot and immediately reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add diced carrots, corn, and peas to the veggie ground round mixture, and stir until combined. Simmer for an additional 15 mins or until the carrot is cooked tender. Add more water, 1 tbsp at a time, if mixture begins to dry out. You want this mixture to be moist, not too wet or soggy. After 15 mins, remove the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Now let’s work on the mash! In a large pot bring peeled and sliced potatoes covered in salted water to a boil and cook for 10-15 mins, or until fork tender. When potatoes are cooked, strain them and return them to the pot. Add your non-dairy milk of choice, vegan butter and nutritional yeast, and mash until there are no lumps or clumps. Let’s put this thing together! Scoop the meaty filling into an 11 by 7-inch casserole dish and spread it out using a spatula. Then, spoon the mash over the filling and spread it out evenly with a clean spatula or spoon. Make sure to pay special attention to the edges. You want to create a potato-seal in order to prevent any spill over due to bubbling of filling. I like my potato layer to have a bit of a crust, so I rough up the surface of the mashed potatoes with a fork, this also helps the crust to brown nicely. Place the casserole dish onto a cookie sheet (in case of spill over) and bake for 25-30 mins or until the potato mash begins to brown. Remove the casserole dish from the oven to a cooling rack and let it sit for 15 mins before slicing and serving. Serve on it’s own or with a side of baked beans, and gravy.
- 2 tbsp vegetable or coconut oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1-1/2 cups cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
- 1-½ lbs veggie ground round (roughly 3 cups)
- 1 cup water
- ⅓ cup dry red wine
- ½ of a 5 ozcan tomato paste
- 2 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce (use ketchup in a pinch)
- 2 tsp vegetable bouillon ( I like Better Than Bouillon)
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, removed from sprig
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- ½ cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
- ½ cup fresh or frozen green peas
- Sea salt, to taste
- 1-1/2 lbs golden or baking Potatoes peeled and sliced
- ¼ cup non-dairy milkof choice
- 3 tbsp vegan butter
- 1 tbsp [url:19]nutritional yeast[/
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- In a large saucepan heat oil over medium-high heat.
- Add onion and garlic and sauté for 3 to 5 mins, or until translucent. Add mushrooms and sauté for 5 mins, until mushrooms are tender and reduced in size by half.
- Add veggie ground round, water, red wine, tomato paste, vegan Worcestershire, bouillon, mustard powder, bay leaf, pepper, and rosemary, and bring to a simmer.
- Cover and immediately reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add carrots, corn, and peas to the ground round mixture, and stir until combined.
- Simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Add more water, 1 tbsp at a time, if mixture begins to dry out. You want this mixture to be moist, not too wet or soggy.
- Remove bay leaf and season with salt to taste.
- In a large pot bring potatoes covered in salted water to a boil and cook for 10-15 mins until fork tender.
- When potatoes are cooked, strain.
- Place potatoes back into the pot and add non-dairy milk, vegan butter and nutritional yeast, and mash until there are no lumps.
- Scoop the filling into an 11 by 7-inch casserole dish and spread out using a spatula.
- Spoon the mash over filling and spread out evenly with a clean spatula.
- Rough up the surface of the mashed potatoes with a fork. This will create a nice browned crust.
- Place the casserole dish onto a cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 mins or until the mash begins to brown.
- Remove casserole dish from the oven to a cooling rack and let it sit for 15 mins before slicing and serving.
- Serve with a side of baked beans, and gravy (optional).
Would this work with one of your seitan recipes? I was thinking of your recipe for beef seitan in your new cookbook?
Love this. Thank you!
So awesome, what would we do without your incredible recipes? Keep on cooking and saving animals please!