The new Canada’s Food Guide has been causing quite a stir, hasn’t it? Stodgy old colonial thinking is finally giving way to the vast body of research that keeps coming back to a more plant-based way of eating. If you are looking for recipes that reflect this new way of eating, but want seriously satisfying and tasty foods too, try this!
Vegan Shepherd’s Pie
- Cook lentils.
- Bring 3 cups of water to boil in a saucepan.
- Add one cup green or black lentils and turn down heat.Simmer for about 30 minutes until quite tender.
- Drain any excess liquid.Cook sweet potatoes.
- Peel two large sweet potatoes and cut into 1” chunks.
- Place in saucepan and cover with water.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce temperature to simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well.
- Mash potatoes with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
- This job goes fast with a food processor but not a blender (it makes the potatoes too glue-like).
Prepare filling.
- In a non-stick frying pan, pre-heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat.
- Add 1 chopped and peeled onion, 2 stalks celery chopped and 1 finely chopped carrot.
- Saute, stirring frequently until starting to brown and fragrant.
- Add 2 cloves finely minced and peeled garlic. Stir another minute.
- Add 2 tablespoons tomato paste and season with salt and pepper. Stir another couple minutes until everything comes together well.
- Add ½ cup vegetable broth, 1 cup frozen peas (or green beans) and ¼ cup ketchup.
- Add cooked lentils.
- Check seasoning. Be generous, adding almost too much salt as the potatoes and baking will moderate it.
Assemble casserole.
- Lightly grease baking dish (8” x 11” or similar).
- Spoon in filling and smooth.
- Top with potatoes. Add topping.
- Combine ¼ cup nutritional yeast, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp parsley flakes, ½ tsp onion powder and ½ tsp garlic powder.
- Sprinkle all over top of casserole.
- The casserole can be refrigerated for a few days at this point and baked later.
- Bake. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes until heated through.
- Leftovers are awesome, too!
Serve with a simple green salad that has crunch added from pumpkin seeds (pepitas). A serving of this meal will contain about 20 grams of protein which is a pretty normal target per meal for most of us.
