Shepardish Pie

In fairness you can make this with whatever filling you want, I’ve done stout based, gravy based and this tomato version all are good and you can add whatever veggies you want, for all you carni’s out there just put in mince instead of lentils. I’ve not taken the time to instruct you on how to make mash but in fairness if you can’t do that prob best get on uber eats and stay away from the kitchen.

Ingredients

This makes a pie big enough for around 6 servings. As seen in the photo it fills my normal size Romertopf.

For the mash

• Potatoes roughly 1kg
• Non dairy milk
• Olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• Couple of tablespoons of nutritional yeast (optional)
• Pepper if you like

For the filling

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2.5 teaspoons dried herbs like parsley, basil, rosemary and thyme whatever you have
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 large carrot diced
• 1 large celery stalk diced
• Cup of frozen Peas (optional)
• Any left over veggies you have diced up (optional but great way to clear out the fridge)
• 200g (tin) brown or green lentils or cook your own from scratch if you like
• Tin of crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup of veggie stock
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons of soy, tamari, or 1 tablespoon of Vegemite for an Aussie twist
• Fresh pepper as much as you fancy or leave it out

Method

1. Turn your oven on to 200
2. Make your mash – not going to add that recipe here as I’m sure you can figure that out
3. In a frying pan, skillet, saucepan, wok, hubcap or whatever you have heat some oil and sauté the onions, garlic, celery and carrots just until the onion starts to soften up, don’t go crazy and over cook here
4. Add your lentils, leftovers, dried herbs and cornstarch stir and saute for a few minutes
5. Add the rest of the ingredients (soy sauce, tin tomatoes, veggie stock) and keep on mid heat stirring so it doesn’t stick. If it needs thickening add more cornstarch or more liquid if too thick (dash of red wine always a winner here)
6. Once at the consistency you want pour into a casserole dish and the cover with your mash spreading the mash over with a work and fluffy up a little always helps then you get nice crunchy parts
7. Throw it in the over for 30mins or until nice and crispy on top
8. Serve up and enjoy the meal