Illustrated recipe: Shepherdess Pie
Lovely warming meal for autumn or winter, full of goodness and umami
Today’s illustrated recipe is one of my favourites (well, why would I share a recipe I hate, of course?), and it’s very much an autumn recipe. I am hoping to make it this week, using the brand new cooker! (Which is in place and lovely, but has hardly been played with at all yet, due to CIRCUMSTANCES - aka too much bloomin work.)
You can find a version of this recipe over at my old blog, but this one is a thousand times prettier and has also been updated to be properly vegan and to include some ingredients that I didn’t know about back then.
And here’s the printable PDF.
And here’s a text version of the recipe:
2 onions
2 carrots
1 courgette
2 handfuls of green beans
soup bowl of mushrooms
(a variety would be great, but
plain chestnut or button mushrooms is fine)
3 tbsp olive oil
3 handfuls dried lentils
2 tbsp Marmite
1 litre vegetable stock (I use
1 veg stock cube, 1 onion stock
cube and 1 mushroom stock cube)
3 large (baking size) potatoes
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp vegan kefir or yoghurt
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
3 tsp mushroom powder
Dice the vegetables finely and sauté them on a low heat in the olive oil.
Add the lentils.
Add the Marmite to the stock.
Add about half the stock to the pan, turn the heat up to medium/high, put a lid on the pan and let it bubble away (allow it to stick and burn a little bit at the bottom – if your pan can take it).
Peel and cut up the potatoes and sweet potatoes into large chunks and boil them until they’re cooked and mashable.
Meanwhile, stir the vegetable mixture every 5–10 minutes and add some more stock, bit by bit. You want to reduce the liquid quite a lot, but not have a dry sauce.
When the potatoes are cooked, mash them really well and add the other olive oil, kefir/yoghurt, nutritional yeast, salt and mushroom powder.
Put all the filling in the bottom of a large (ovenproof) dish and spread it out evenly.
Cover the filling with the mash and spread it out evenly. Use a fork to score patterns in it.
Cook in the oven for 35 minutes at a fairly high heat (what you would cook lasagne on in your oven).
Finally, place under the grill for 10 minutes, or until crispy brown on top.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s illustrated recipe and do let me know if you try this recipe (whether adapted or not).
Ooh, I've not had one with Marmite in. Thanks for the recipe! My Dad still has truffle Marmite that isn't sold now. But I may not use his precious stash and combine Marmite with a bit of truffle oil in place of some of the olive oil, perhaps.