Shepherd’s Pie

Y’all.  This Shepherd’s Pie.  The spices, herbs, and flavors added to this dish create a rich, well-rounded taste without any icky ingredients!  The secret is the tamari.  Paired with the mushrooms, this makes the umami flavor that rounds out the dish.  Try it.  Love it.  Tell me what you think!

Also, I used the same soup base that I did in the Thanksgiving stuffing recipe (I made them at the same time), so this will be very similar to that if you looked at that one.  Also, I recommend the two dishes together.  They’re so delicious!

Ingredients

Filling

• ½ onion, chopped
• 3-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-5 mushrooms, cubed
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3-5 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 parsnip, chopped
• 1 cup green lentils, dry
• 1L veggie broth
• 2 Tbsp. tamari
• ½ tsp. each of thyme, rosemary, oregano, and pepper
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 cups frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 cup oats or oat flour (the flour gives a smoother texture—create flour by blending oats in a blender until they turn to powder)

Potatoes

• 2 orange sweet potatoes, cubed
• 5 Yukon gold potatoes, cubed
• ½ cup plant milk (I used almond milk)
• ½ tsp. each of onion powder, garlic powder, and thyme
• 1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. In an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, add all filling ingredients except the frozen mixed vegetables and oats
3. Pressure cook vegetables and lentils on high for 15 minutes (if you do not have a pressure cooker, cook mixture on the stove until lentils are tender)
4. On the stove or in a steamer, steam the potatoes until tender (the cubed potatoes may have the skin on—that’s what I did)
5. Once steamed, combine the potatoes, plant milk, spices, nutritional yeast, and salt in a bowl and mash until smooth
6. Once cooked and the pressure cooker has depressurized for 10 minutes, finish depressurizing and remove lid
7. Add frozen mixed vegetables and oatmeal (or oat flour) to the lentil mixture (season to taste)
8. Add lentil mixture to casserole dish
9. Cover lentil mixture with potatoes
10. Bake in oven for 10 minutes
11. Take dish out of oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes
12. Enjoy!