How to Make Vegetarian Shepherd's pie

Shepherd's pie is a popular comfort food, composed of meat and vegetables covered with buttery mashed potatoes. But it's possible for vegetarians to enjoy shepherd's pie while still sticking to a meatless diet. Leaving out the ground beef or lamb or substituting a vegetarian protein alternative transforms this traditionally meaty dish into a delicious vegetarian entree.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp finely chopped garlic
• ½ small onion, minced
• 1 fresh tomato, chopped
• 5 cusp mixture of chopped carrots, peppers, celery, mushrooms, or other vegetables
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cup mashed potatoes, for topping
• Large pan for pre-cooking the vegetables
• Deep baking dish for assembling the pie

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Then, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, and sauté until soft.

2. Add onion. Sauté for about 5 minutes more.

3. Add tomato to onion and garlic. Sauté for 2 more minutes.

4. Make the mashed potatoes In a separate pan: boil 2 pounds potatoes until soft, then mash with 2 Tbsp. butter and 1/4 cup milk.

5. Add stock and chopped vegetables to the pan with the garlic, onion and tomato. Allow the mixture to boil, then cover the pan, lower the heat and continue cooking for about 5 to 10 minutes, until vegetables have softened. Then, add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Grease baking dish with olive oil. Fill pan with cooked vegetable mixture, then spread mashed potatoes over the top.

7. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the filling begins to bubble up around the edges of the baking dish.

Tips & Warnings

• To add protein to this dish, include beans or cooked tofu along with the vegetables.
• Serve right out of the oven, while still hot.

Resources

• Post-Punk Kitchen--vegan cooking
• Vegetarian cooking--information about recipes, products and more

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[diggitydogg]

on 11/19/2008 This sounds very good. I have to try it.