Shepherd-less Pie

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups dried brown lentils (cooked with 4.5 cups of water)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 lbs potatoes (mix of blue, Yukon gold, and russet), peeled and chopped into equal size
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 large white onion, diced
• 1 heaping tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp each thyme, rosemary, basil (all dried)
• 3 tsp tamari (or soy sauce if gluten-free pie isn’t the goal)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil (to add fat to the potatoes – you can use unflavoured soy/almond/rice milk if you have it on hand!)
• 3 tbsp canola oil for frying
• 1 cup peas, frozen
• 1 cup corn, frozen

• Large sauce pan
• Deep-edged skillet
• 9 x 13 casserole dish or lasagna pan

Directions:

1. Bring lentils and water to a boil in a large saucepan.  Add the bay leaves.  Stir, reduce heat, cover and some for 15-20 minutes or until tender.  Drain and put aside.  Remove the bay leaves before you forget about them!
2. Boil water for potatoes in another large saucepan.  Add the chopped potatoes and 3 cloves of garlic.  Boil for 20 minutes or until tender.  Drain, add coconut oil, and mash in pot.  Stir in nutritional yeast.  Salt as needed.  Put aside.
3. In a large skillet with deep sides, heat canola oil on medium heat.  Add onions.  Sauté until transluscent. Add thyme, rosemary and basil.  Let sit for two minutes to make the herbs get all aromatic.  Then add the corn and peas and combine thoroughly.  Heat for 7 minutes.  If using frozen vegetables, make sure you let the excess water evaporate once they thaw in the pan.
4. Meanwhile, get your oven prepped by pre-heating it to 350° F.
5. Add the cooked lentils to the vegetable mixture in the skillet (this is why you need the deep sides!)  Combine the ingredients well, making sure to scoop up from the bottom of the pan from time to time so no burning happens.  You want the flavours to get all friendly with each other.  Add the tamari sauce and stir again.  If using canned corn and peas, you may want to cut back on the sodium — in that case, cute back to two teaspoons of tamari.  Let it ‘stew’ for 5 minutes.
6. Transfer the lentil-veggie mix to a 9×13 casserole dish or lasagna pan.  Smooth out evenly.  Then top it with the mashed potato mixture.  Distribute the potato mixture as evenly as possible — it may require a gentle hand as this mash isn’t as creamy as some other mashes.  Doesn’t mean it ain’t tasty though!  I added a dusting of nutritional yeast over the top, though that’s optional.
7. Pop the loaded casserole dish into the pre-heated oven.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, and then switch to the broiler on low for 5 minutes to make the potato crust a little extra golden.
8. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes.  Serve hot.

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This item was part of our food swap on November 15th, 2012.  This dish was swapped for:

• Hannah’s Ginger Miso Soup & Burdock Root
• Ben’s Dark Chocolate & Mint Chocolate Faux Truffles
• Gillian’s Lentil & Feta Salad
• Megan’s Quinoa & Beet Salad
• Sonia’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies