Vegan Meaty Shepherd’s Pie

This was a little bit of gambling but became a huge success. I actually was so nervous making this since I have never eaten a Shepherd’s pie before. I only just recently heard of it, so making this recipe was totally like a blind man running into a yard looking for his lost toothpick!

But anyway, what I do when I make recipes like this is, I go and do a lot of research to see how people make it, then use my knowledge to make it vegan, such as since I see people use ground meat, I used TVP, which really does a great job with imitating the texture and taste.

I don’t even know how I managed to get it so tasty and sweet without trying since I didn’t add a drop of sugar in it or any actual sweetener. I guess it came from the onions and corn, maybe even tomatoes.

*Substitution notes: If you don’t have time to make the mushroom broth, you can use other vegetable broth, though it may not taste as good as freshly made broth.

You can use vegan minced meatless protein crumbles if you can’t find TVP, though you won’t need to soak them in boiling broth.

Vegan Meaty Shepherd’s Pie
Serves: 2
Ingredients
Mushroom Broth
  • 7 cups water
  • 2 cups white mushrooms
  • 1 medium/large onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
Pie Filling
  • 1 tablespoon extra light olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • A few sprinkles Himalayan/sea salt
  • 1 medium carrot
  • ½ cup tvp – textured vegetable protein (and ⅓ cup boiling mushroom broth)
  • ½ cup frozen corn
  • ½ cup frozen peas
  • ½ teaspoon Himalayan/sea salt
  • ½ cup & 2 tablespoons mushroom broth
  • 1 Roma tomato
  • 1 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons red wine (or red cooking wine)
  • 1 tablespoon potato flour
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 fresh sage leaf
  • 2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • A few sprinkles ground pepper
Potato Mash Topping
  • 1 large russet potato
  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 tablespoon extra light olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon Himalayan/sea salt
  • A few sprinkles ground pepper
  • A sprinkle Italian herb seasoning
  • A sprinkle smoked paprika
Instructions
  1. Make the Mushroom Broth: Chop the mushrooms, onion and garlic into small slices and put it in a medium/large saucepan and fill it up with 7 cups of water.
  2. Cover the lid and bring to a boil, which can take about 15 minutes, then turn to medium low (3-4) and simmer for about 2 hours.
  3. Make the Pie Filling: Dice the onion, garlic and carrot into small cubes. Put the diced onion and garlic into a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a few sprinkles salt. Keep the carrot separate somewhere else.
  4. Also, measure out the corn and peas and put them in a bowl to thaw.
  5. Once the mushroom broth is ready (should still be very hot), have the tvp sit in a bowl and pour ⅓ cup broth over it. Let it rehydrate and set it aside for now.
  6. Turn the frying pan on high-medium high (6 or right under, the stove should not be red). Fry the onions and garlic for about 10 minutes, be sure to stir all the time, then add the diced carrots. Stir and let it cook for 5 minutes. By this stage, it should have browned a lot and carrots should be looking softer. Add the tvp and stir and cook for 5 more minutes.
  7. During this time, add the ½ cup and 2 tablespoons mushroom broth in the blender. Chop up the Roma tomato into 5-6 slices and toss it in the blender as well, along with the tomato paste, red wine (or red cooking wine) and potato flour. Blend until the liquid is completely smooth.
  8. After cooking the tvp for 5 minutes, add the corn, peas and salt. Stir often and let it cook for a minute, then add the liquid you’ve just made in the blender.
  9. As the vegetables are cooking with the liquid for a minute or two, remove the stems from the herbs (rosemary, thyme) and break it into individual leaves.
  10. Chop up the sage as well. Toss all the herbs in the frying pan. Then, add the final ingredients, including the soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and pepper.
  11. Cook for a final 4-5 minutes until everything is blended very nicely, and turn the heat off.
  12. Make the Potato Mash: It’s important that you start this early, otherwise you will be waiting a while.
  13. Peel the potatoes and roughly dice it up into cubes. The pieces don’t have to be very small. Fill enough water to cover the potatoes in a small saucepan.
  14. Turn the heat to high and bring the potatoes to a boil, which should take from 5-7 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low (4) and simmer for about 10-12 minutes until the potatoes are soft to poke through with a fork.
  15. Drain the potatoes very well and use a potato masher (do not use a blender or food processor) to mash the potatoes up. Once the potatoes are well mashed, add the almond milk. olive oil, garlic powder, salt and a couple sprinkles ground pepper. Mix it all up until everything is even (should no longer have any lumps).
  16. Assembling: Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
  17. Spray a little non-stick cooking oil to an oven tray (I used a bread pan). You may want to use a casserole dish or other dish that’s safe for the oven.Spoon the pie filling onto the bottom and even it out with a spoon. Spoon the potato mash on top and even it out with a spoon as well.
  18. Then on the very top, add a sprinkle of pepper, Italian herb seasoning and smoked paprika.
  19. Use a fork to make some little lines on top (optional, just to make it look all fancy and pretty). Spray a bit of cooking oil on the top.
  20. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, then turn the oven to broil for about 4 minutes to help the top brown a little faster.
  21. PS. Don’t forget to pour the unused broth into a container so you can use it for other recipes later!

Susanna

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