Shepherd's Pie: An Evolution

My mother cooked us dinner nearly every night when my siblings and I were little, but I don’t really remember those days too clearly. I have fuzzy memories of waiting for spaghetti to boil, of bean soup, of gloriously lumpy mashed potatoes, and of pies made from the apricots in our backyard. So much of the fabric of my childhood is wrapped up around sharing meals, and yet many of those memories are vague at best.

When I was a bit older, my mom began working full-time. Perhaps not surprisingly, we followed the lead of so many others in my generation and began eating far more convenience foods. Homemade mashed potatoes were replaced with dehydrated potato flakes, cans of soup were bought in bulk from the local warehouse store, and desserts were more commonly picked up in the grocery store bakery than prepared at home.

It’s not that cooking no longer happened. It did, but making and eating “real” food was more of a weekend activity than one for busy school and work nights.

Still, one meal I remember strongly was the first time my mom ever made what she called “Shepherd’s Pie.” It’s not something I ever remember eating as a small child, but once my mother introduced us to it, the recipe became a regular part of the monthly meal rotation. The dish wasn’t completely “from scratch,” but it involved more cooking than many of our other meals did when I was in high school.

The basic recipe, as taught by my (omnivore) mother: Take one package of ground meat and brown it. Mix in frozen peas and carrots, and one prepared package of brown gravy. Top with mashed potatoes (instant is okay), and maybe some shredded cheese if you’re feeling fancy. Bake in the oven until everything is hot and bubbly, and perhaps until the top of the potatoes are a bit golden and crispy.

And that’s it. Simple, filling, and fun.

I moved into my own place after I finished two years of community college. At that time, I knew next to nothing about cooking, much less about healthy cooking. I was newly vegetarian, and my thenboyfriend and I ate a lot of pasta with jarred sauce, frozen veggies, and canned fruit. Cheese was a staple. I considered it a healthy swap when we started buying “whole grain” biscuit and pancake mix in place of the original variety. We ate low-sugar table syrup with our frozen waffles and occasionally indulged in giant tubs of cookies to portion out for lunches.

In short, we took the meal-planning methods of our separate childhoods and merged them with our vegetarian ideals. It was far from healthy, but neither of us really knew that much about cooking. Our primary motivation at that time was staying within our budget.

I still remember the very first time I tried making my mom’s Shepherd’s Pie as a vegetarian. I had bought a package of soy-based “ground crumbles” to replace the meat and I had been thrilled to find envelopes of vegetarian brown gravy at the local health food store. With frozen veggies and instant potato flakes, it tasted exactly like the family standby.

Years passed. The boyfriend became the husband, that first apartment changed to a different apartment and eventually a house, and our diet continued to evolve. We both learned more about cooking. We shopped less at discount grocery stores and more at the “regular” market, sometimes even the farmers’ market. We joined a CSA. We bought cookbooks. We still ate a lot of processed foods, but we were learning.

And over those years, that simple Shepherd's Pie evolved, too. The vegetarian crumbles were sometimes replaced with other brands and styles, or with textured vegetable protein. We experimented with adding different veggies to the mix: corn, green beans, sometimes sauteed onions. The packaged brown gravy was sometimes canned mushroom gravy instead. One time, I even remember finding a country gravy mix that happened to be vegetarian, and the results were quite satisfying.

For our first Thanksgiving in our first house, we hosted the family. The entire family. My in-laws offered to bring the meaty entree, since I wasn't wiling to have it cooked in my kitchen (and our oven was too small anyway). My sister adapted the green bean casserole to suit her special dietary needs. My brother brought the pumpkin ale. Other dishes were changed slightly to please my vegetarian sensibilities– vegetable broth instead of chicken, olive oil instead of bacon grease. We had quite a spread.

That was the first time I ever used lentils in place of the veggie crumbles, having been inspired by a similar recipe in a recent issue of Vegetarian Times. The vegetables mixed in were all fresh, not frozen. We'd made the recipe a few times with real mashed potatoes in recent months, and this time around I had the inspiration of including one sweet potato in with all the russets. Canned mushroom gravy brought everything together quickly and easily.

The dish was a success. Sure, my brother scoffed at my “hippie food,” but most of the family gave it a taste, and my own mother gave it a big thumbs up, which meant the world to me. That Thanksgiving was a huge success, and while I can't point specifically to my version of the Shepherd's Pie as reason, it's an integral part of the memory.

In the years since then, my Shepherd's Pie has continued to change, but I've finally settled upon a basic recipe.

Lentils are now the standard. Veggies consist of onions, garlic, peas and carrots, but it's common to find bright kernels of yellow corn tucked in, and green beans add some welcome variety to the texture of the filling. The potato topping is usually some mix of russets, sweet, and reds, although I've been known to sneak a turnip i as well. The gravy is almost always homemade, now that I know how easy it is to whip up a batch of mushroom gravy (and the mushrooms add even more umami to the finished dish).

I’ve been fully plant-based for several years now, so that has changed the recipe, too. The mashed potatoes are made with coconut oil or vegan margarine now, and the gravy is made with almond, hemp, or some other "neutral" type of non-dairy milk. Cheese is completely off the menu; sometimes I add a sprinkle of nutritional yeast to the potatoes instead, sometimes not, but vegan "cheese" adds a texture that we simply don't like.

Will my recipe continue to change over the years? That’s very likely! My biggest dream is that it’s a dish my own children will someday associate with the holidays, one that will evoke memories of crisp autumn days and frosty December mornings. The smell will bring memories of joyful times spent with family, and the taste – even in the height of summer’s heat – will spark thoughts of the end-of-theyear holiday season.

Shepherd's Pie

Filling

• 1 cup lentils

• 3 cup water or vegetable broth

• 1 tbsp oil

• 3/4 onion, diced, ~1 medium onion

• 1/2 cup carrot, chopped, ~2 small carrots

• 1/4 cup frozen peas

• 1/4 cup frozen sweet corn

• 1/4 cup green beans, chopped (fresh or frozen)

• 1 tsp minced garlic, ~2 cloves

Gravy

• 1 1/2 cup water

• 3 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp minced garlic, ~1-2 cloves

• 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 1/4 tsp ground ginger

• 3 cups white mushrooms, sliced, ~8 oz.

• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

• 1/2 cup almond milk

• 3 tbsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch

• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast

• 1/8 tsp salt

• 1/8 tsp pepper

Topping

• 2 cups chopped potato, ~2 large potatoes (russets are best, but red or yellow works, too)

• 1 cup chopped sweet potato, ~1 medium sweet potato

• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped turnip, ~1 small turnip (optional)

• 1/4-1/2 cup vegan margarine or refined coconut oil

• 1 tsp nutritional yeast

• enough almond milk to reach desired consistency

• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Combine lentils with water or vegetable broth and cook until tender. Drain and set aside.

3. Add potatoes, sweet potato, and turnip to a separate large pot of water and boil until soft, then drain.Return potatoes to pot and add margarine. Mash thoroughly. Add salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast, plus asplash of almond milk. Mix, adding more almond milk if needed to reach a creamy consistency.

4. Meanwhile, saute onion in water or neutral oil until it begins to soften. Add garlic and remaining veggies.Cook until all are moderately soft. Mix with lentils.

5. For gravy, combine water with tamari, garlic, onion powder, and ginger. Bring to a boil, then add mushrooms and Italian seasoning. Simmer until mushrooms are soft. Separately, combine almond milk with nutritional yeast and arrowroot powder. When mushrooms are done, add almond milk mixture and continue simmering until gravy thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Mix gravy with lentil and vegetable mixture. Spread in a 8x8 or 9x9 square baking dish. Spread potatoeson top of lentil/vegetable/gravy mixture.

7. Bake 30-45 minutes, until hot throughout and gravy starts to bubble up the sides. r

Words & recipe by Holly Scudero