Vegetarian Shepherds Pie Recipe

Vegetarian Shepherds Pie

Tasty and economical!

You will need...

30ml olive oil
1 onion diced
3 garlic cloves
3 stalks celery diced (and heart)
3 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
1 tsp Carroway seeds
Sprig of rosemary
200g mushrooms diced
2 tbls tomato paste
1 can diced tomtatoes
300g brown lentils (soaked for several hours overnight, simmer from cold in just enough veggie stock to cover & cook till just soft, do not drain)
100g green beans sliced into 1cm pieces
2 carrots diced
1 litre Veg stock or water
25 ml red wine vinegar
1 tbls Lemon zest
1/3 bunch parsley chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Mashed potatoes:
500g potatoes
Salt and white pepper
80g butter
100ml Milk
½ cup Parmesan

Then you will need to...

Heat the oil in a large frypan and add the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes.

Add the celery, carrot, carroway seeds, rosemary, bay leaves and thyme. Saute for a few minutes.

Add red wine vinegar then add tomato paste and diced tomatoes and cook out for a few minutes. Season to taste. Add lemon zest , beans, sliced mushrooms and cooked lentils in the stock they cooked in.

Simmer until most of the liquid has evapourated. Season to taste, remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Pour into a baking dish and top with mashed potatoes, sprinkle with parmesan and bake until golden brown.

*For mashed potatoes, boil them in salted water until soft. Drain off water and dry in the pan before mashing with butter, milk and salt and pepper.