Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pies are just delightful: under a rich, creamy potato lid hides a savoury bean and vegetable mix. I have made a few such pies, as a friend of mine has taught me how to make them, but I think that this could be my favourite one. I made the potato mash a little bit more interesting by adding smoky cheese to it.

I can't believe how cool the weather is at the moment again, so any pie is welcome to me. This recipe makes a proud amount of pie, either one large oven dish or 4-6 smaller ramekins. Follow these instructions to make this pie.

1 kg potatoes

25 g butter

1 tsp salt

50 g smoky cheddar

1 cup dried green lentils

1 cup dried mixed beans

4-5 medium shallots

1 tbsp olive oil

2 carrots

4-5 garlic cloves

300 ml dry cider

200 ml vegetable stock

25 g dried porcini mushrooms

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp miso

½ tsp ground black pepper

Soak the beans overnight, if you're also using dried ones (Tinned ones would be ready to go). Boil them heavily for about 15 minutes and then lightly for about an hour. It's a good idea to read the instructions on the packet, as the boiling length depends on the beans.

Rinse the lentils and boil them also for about 20 minutes. Break the porcini mushrooms slightly and soak them for about ten minutes.

Peel the potatoes and boil them in water until soft and mash them. Add the butter, salt and smoky cheddar to make a smooth mash.

Chop the shallots, garlic and carrots finely (carrots into small cubes) and cook them in olive oil for about 10 minutes. Add the cooked and drained beans and lentils with the porcini to the pan.

Then add the cider and let it evaporate. Finally add the bay leaves and vegetable stock and let simmer for a further 15 minutes at least.

Season with miso, salt and black pepper to achieve a savoury mix. Remove the bay leaves before baking.

Place the bean mix into a large oven dish or into small ramekins and top with the smoky potato mash. Little butter can be added to the top. Bake at 175C for about 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and enjoy warm.

Your VegHog

The VegHog's garden update

I have promised to update you of my urban garden's progress throughout the summer, so here is a little post about it again. In the meanwhile my balcony is blooming and green and I'm so happy with it.

My first vegetable crops of the year were radishes. I ate the radishes, used the leaves for a pesto and now I let them flower. The flowers are edible and have a nice peppery taste, so I have used them to garnish salads.

The zucchinis are growing pretty fast and are trying to take over my whole balcony. First I didn't think they would grow that well in pots, but I was wrong. I have tried to be inventive with what to make with them. I've even made a courgette flower dish.

My bush tomatoes have been flowering for a good while now and I'm excited to see whether they can produce a fruit. Same goes for the French dwarf beans.

The outdoor and indoor herbs are also doing well. They love the light and warmth that will hopefully last for a while longer. I have recently planted some lettuce and chard, so we'll see how they'll come along when planted a bit later.

As decoration I'm growing sweet peas. They have lovely flowers and they also attract bees.

I will be posting another gardening update and more recipes I have cooked with my homegrown produce soon.

Your VegHog

Related posts:

The joys of balcony gardening 

Homegrown 

Homemade tortillas with char-grilled vegetables, refried beans, salsa and guacamole

This is the final day of my Mexican week for now (there might be others to come) and today I'm mainly just assembling the components that I shared with you this week. But first of all I'm preparing the final pieces to the puzzle: char-grilled vegetables. What could be a nicer addition to a Mexican style vegetarian meal than some char-grilled vegetables with their smokiness.

I used these ingredients:

1 aubergine

2-3 peppers

1 can sweetcorn

Groundnut oil for grilling

Heat a little groundnut oil in a griddle pan and grill the sliced vegetables until they have grilling marks. You can roast them further in the oven if they are not quite done yet after the grilling.

I used canned sweetcorn this time and just fried them in the griddle pan. It was not the easiest thing as they just got between the griddles but they got slightly grilled in the end.

Gotta love those griddle marks!

Assembly of the dish:

Place some grated cheese, the char-grilled vegetables and refried beans on the tortilla and serve the whole thing with the homemade sauces and sour cream on the side. You can roll the tortillas to wraps, if you prefer, but I chose to leave them open.

Add jalapeños to the plate for extra spiciness.

Tomato and grilled pepper salsa, guacamole and sour cream. 

I tend to eat a lot but this kind of plate is so filling that it's difficult to manage any seconds!

I hope you have enjoyed this week's recipes, which basically are out of my comfort zone. I tried to bring these dishes back to basics and hopefully haven't insulted anyone through lacking authenticity in Mexican cooking.

Thanks for reading and stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Refried beans

You might already have noticed that this week is Mexican themed with The VegHog. Today I'm making refried beans, which are a great and filling addition to any vegetarian Mexican meal.

Ingredients

1 cup dried red kidney beans

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

A few tablespoons of vegetable stock

Ground coriander

Pepper

Salt

Oil

Soak the beans overnight if you're using dried beans. On the next day then boil them until fully cooked. First boil them heavily for about 15 minutes and then boil them further at lower heat for about an hour. When the beans are cooked mash them. I keep also the bean skins but if you prefer you can press the mash through a colander if you want a smoother consistency.

Chop the onion and garlic and fry them lightly in oil. Then add the beans to the pan. Fry at low heat for about 20 minutes occasionally stirring. Add a little vegetable stock to make the mixture smoother. Season with salt, pepper and ground coriander.

Your VegHog

The VegHog's classic bean burger

This is in fact an old recipe from The VegHog's archive and it's a simple recipe for a basic bean burger. I'm looking into developing it further and have a few other variations but please try this one as well.

The preparation starts on the previous day if you use dried red kidney beans as they need to be soaked. Otherwise these are very easy to make.

Ingredients

1 cup dried red kidney beans

1 onion

1-2 cloves of garlic

1 chili

2 eggs

Bread crumbs

Salt

Pepper

Oil

Method

Soak the dried beans overnight and on the next day you can start with the actual burger making. First heavily boil the beans for about 15 minutes and then boil at lower heat for about one hour until they are fully soft. Then mash the cooked beans.

While the beans are boiling you can finely chop the onion, garlic and chili and mix them to the beans. Also season the mix with salt and pepper. I used a homegrown dried red chili and although it was tiny it was quite spicy. Let the burger mix cool down as otherwise you'll have difficulty shaping the burgers and keeping them together.

Once the mix is cooled down prepare a production line with a plate with beaten egg on it and another one with bread crumbs. Then heat a generous amount of vegetable oil in a pan. Shape a burger of the dough, roll it in the beaten egg and bread crumbs and fry from both sides until golden brown. Repeat these steps as long as you have bean mix left.

Serve with lovely buns, cheese and tomato or however you would like. Also have a look at my previous veggie burger recipes and tips how to make this vegan.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Lentil pie

Hello again everybody! It's time to make more pies!

My English friend actually gave me his lentil pie recipe and I believe I'm safe to say that it's a true winner! It's a shepherd's pie style lentil pie and absolutely gorgeous. It's very wholesome and nutritious for vegetarians. Just remember to start soaking the beans the previous day and you're good to go (alternatively you can leave them out and it's still good).

You will need three pans, one for the potatoes, one for cooking the beans and one for the frying the filling veg (the beans will end up here when they're cooked). You'll also need at least one oven dish because this can make a lot of pie!

Ingredients

For the topping

Potatoes

Butter

Salt

For the filling

Cup of soaked mixed dried beans

Cup of red and green dried lentils

2-3 Large onions

2 Carrots

A handful of dried porcini mushrooms

4 Garlic cloves

A cup of cider

A cup of vegetable stock

Yeast extract

Soy sauce or Miso

Bay leaves

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Lentils and beans should be rinsed before boiling. Start by boiling the beans. They will need a while and it's important to make sure that they are fully cooked. Otherwise they might be harmful to your health. Please check the packing or Wiki for instructions if you're not sure, but these beans needed 15 minutes of vigorous boiling and about an hour of slow boiling. You can add the green lentils to the beans about 15 minutes before they're done. Cook the red lentils with the main mix later.

In the meanwhile chop the onions, carrots and garlic. Also prepare a mix of the vegetable stock and the dried mushrooms so they rehydrate. I usually break the mushrooms into small pieces for this dish.

Cook the onions for at least 15 minutes on a low heat with a little olive oil and salt. Add the carrots and garlic when the onions are starting to brown nicely.

Start boiling the potatoes for the topping until they are tender. I normally leave the peels on if I'm using new potatoes, it keeps the vitamins in. Once they are fully cooked mash them and mix with some salt and butter. Add some liquid like vegetable stock or just water to make the mash very smooth.

After frying the carrots and garlic with the onions for a few more minutes add the cider and let this reduce. Then add the stock, red lentils, cooked beans and green lentils, bay leaves and pepper. Add one or more of the yeast extract, miso or soy sauce; the aim is to add a savoury umami taste, so add these while tasting to get it right. I used a little of all three. Cook until the lentils are soft and tender, or even falling apart and the sauce is fairly thick.

Spoon the lentil and bean mix to about 2/3 depth in an oven dish. Cover with about 0,5-1cm of potato mash, if it doesn't spread well add a little more water or butter. Use a fork to decorate the top of the mash. Finally bake at 175C for about 30-40 minutes until the surface is lightly browned.

Serve hot with some nice fresh green veg.

This is a nice pie but the pie quest will continue tomorrow with other pie ideas!

Your VegHog