One of My Loves favourite meals is Shepherd's Pie...the meat variety and thankfully for me the lentil kind..mixed vegetable kind and now the beany kind. lol. And on a chilly autumn evening there is nothing more comforting than plate of this type of pie served with some steamed broccoli, green beans and brussel sprouts. That is exactly what we had when we came home last night.
I cannot claim that this recipe is my own. It's the results of a many times adapted recipe that I found in a generic Vegetarian cookbook with no author listed but just the publishers name. The original did use Aducki Beans and that was why I first made it because it's one of our most loved beans. They work really well as a filling and today I adapted the recipe again via the topping and used a mix of regular potatoes and sweet potatoes. And it was so good..lol.
I hope you try this recipe and maybe adapt it some more..lol I would be happy to hear from you.
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| Beany Shepherdless Pie ~ lovely crispy topping and rich filling. |
2 1/4lb potatoes, peeled and chunked in uniform pieces
(or 50/50 reg potatoes & sweet potatoes)
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
2 large carrots, grated
2 garlic cloves, grated
4oz mushrooms, halved and sliced
2 x 14oz tins of Aducki beans, rinsed and drained
1 pint of veggie stock
2 tsp vegan worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Bring a large pan of water to boil, then place the potatoes into it and cook until tender...approx 20 minutes. Once tender, strain the water and leave the potatoes draining in a colander for 10 minutes.
Heat the sunflower oil in a large skillet and add the onion, garlic, pepper and carrot. Cook over a low heat for 7 minutes until softened. Stir in the mushrooms and beans. Cook for a further 2 minutes and then stir in the stock, worcestershire sauce, bay leaves and mixed herbs. Simmer for 20 minutes or until virtually all the stock has cooked off. Remove from the heat and spoon the mixture into a casserole baking dish and level off.
Place the potatoes back into the pan that they were cooked and break down the individual pieces. Then mash the potatoes until they are smooth and creamy. (Trust me..you won't need any additional liquid as the combination of the two make for a creamy fluffy topping ~R~) Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Place the potato on top of the beany mixture and smooth over to cover. With the prongs of a fork across the top first in one direction and then go back over another way a few times.
In a preheated 375'F/190'C/Gas Mark 5 oven bake for 35 minutes or until piping hot and the topping is golden brown. Serve with steamed veggies.
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| It's surprisingly hard to take photos in the evenings now..so everything has an orange tinge and shadows..annoying but despite these two things...lol....I liked this shot! |
~R~
