Shepherds/cottage pie

[Linxie]

Does anyone here have a good recipe for shepherds pie using soya mince? In my quest to get my boyfriend to eat more vegan food, I have been trying to make him a shepherds pie. The first one was a disaster (although we kind of rescued it and ate it anyway), last night I made a second attempt which was a lot better (although I undercooked the carrots :(). Does anyone have a tried and tested recipe I can follow for my third attempt?

[Pob]

You might get better results with Realeat mince rather than soya mince, as it's more like real mince.

In any case the most important part is getting the gravy right. What gravy are you using? I make my own gravy using cornflour (to thicken), onion powder, marjoram, basil, sage, no added salt chicken seasoning, yeast extract and vecon. The measurements vary every time, and I just adjust the seasoning to taste. It's about 30g cornflour, with 1/2 teaspoon each of yeast extract and vecon, 1/2 to one teaspoon of the other ingredients, mix to smooth paste with little water, then mix to pint with boiling water, then heat through on the stove and adjust seasonings.

The filling should be properly cooked before it goes in the oven, so you can check it for taste and texture before putting it in.

[Linxie]

I was using realeat as thats my favourite but I just made my gravy up using onion gravy granules. I am not a great cook so the thought of making gravy scares me lol!

[wildcatstrike]

We do a lovely one using Morrison's meat free mince. For the gravy we make a jug of Morrisons own vegetable gravy granules nice and thick and pour it in after the mince and onions have cooked for 3-4 minutes in a large saucepan. Chuck in your carrots and peas etc after that, cook until everything looks/tastes done, shouldn't take more than 10-12 mins after that, (we throw some dried rosemary in at this point which tastes gooooood!) then pour in into an oven proof dish, spoon mash potato on top and oven it for 20 mins or so until the potatoes are browning abit.

I'm sure there are other ways, but that's ours and it's well nice. =D Good luck

[Pob]

Try stirring some yeast extract into the gravy - it makes it richer. I use the Natex one for cooking as it's low in salt, so you can add loads without making things too salty. Some sage and basil will definitely liven it up, too. If you can get a jar of chicken or beef seasoning from the herbs/spice section, that's really good to add a load of flavour without any worry. Again I get the salt free one.

Just give it a try and taste it often while it's cooking on the hob :)

[Linxie]

Thanks I will try some of your suggestions and hopefully it will be third time lucky and tasty :D Bless him, my boyfriend is willing to eat the one I made last night even though the carrots were under cooked!

[herbwormwood]

Taste the gravy before you add it to the mince. It should taste yummy. If it tastes yummy, your cottage/shepherd's pie will taste yummy.

[Risker]

I don't use mince at all, I use lentils or beans, much better imho. Other things I include are chopped tinned tomatoes, tobasco sauce, peas, onion.

I make it differently each time I think but I'm going to make one on Friday and post the recipe I used if it's any good (which it will be :)).

[Tigerlily]

I want Sheppard's pie now! I like to use lentils instead of meat but I really wanna try it with soy meat.

[harpy]

Here's a lentil one concocted by my other half. It makes quite a lot so you could scale it down by 50%.

I would tend to spice up the filling a bit unless the stock is extra-tasty:

VEGETARIAN SHEPHERD'S PIE

Ingredients


3oz cracked wheat/bulghar
3oz green (or other) lentils
1pt vegetable stock
1 large onion
1 lb mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
4 or 5 carrots
1-1.5 lb potatoes
2 15 oz cans tomatoes
soy milk, vegan margarine, sunflower oil, salt, pepper

Serves: 4-6 people

1. Boil lentils for 30mins or as indicated by
cooking instructions.

2. Soak or boil (depending on pack instructions) cracked wheat
in vegetable stock.

3. Chop onions and garlic; fry in sunflower oil until
onions are soft. Chop mushrooms, add to onions and fry for
another minute.

4. Drain lentils. Add lentils, cracked wheat and tomatoes
to onions and mushrooms, add salt and pepper to taste, then
simmer for 15-20 minutes.

5. In parallel with 1-4, boil potatoes and carrots (halve
or quarter carrots into strips). Mash the potatoes in the milk
and margarine until creamy, add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Put lentils & cracked wheat mixture in bottom of
casserole dish. Next, add a layer of carrots. Add the potatoes.
Put some margarine on top to brown. Put in medium hot oven for
approximately 30 minutes.

[Cherry]

Shepherd's Pie (http://www.parsleysoup.co.uk/getrecipe.php?section=maincourses&recipe=shepherds_pie)

Not the best photo, sorry.

I use realeat soya mince. Definitely the way to go.

[Risker]

I made one for tonights dinner, I could give a recipe but I don't think it'd be very good as I could have made it alot simpler.

The ingredients were;

4 oz frozen peas
2 onions (chopped)
2 Carrots (sliced)
2 Sticks celery (sliced)
1 Tin green lentils (drained)
4 oz dry lentils [I added these later in the cooking to firm the mixture]
Lots of tobasco sauce
1/2 tin tomato puree (70g)
1 oxo vegetable stock cube in 250ml water
Tin chopped plum tomatoes
Vegetable gravy granules (about 1Tbsp)

For mash
2 lb potato (peeled and chopped)
2 Tbsp pure spread
Some soy cream


It served 6.

Filling
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/623/img14582smallrx2.jpg

Finished dish
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/6131/img14652smallav6.jpg

A good tip for making shephards/Cottage pie is to make the filling early so that you can leave it to cool before topping with the mash, that way the filling firms up a bit so the mash wont sink into it.

[Frosty]

This thread has left me salivating :o There's some grand looking recipes on here. Yum, yum! :)

[emmapresley]

i was gonna say..but people have beat me to it..ditch the fake mince and go for green lentils!!

fry onions and diced carrots..add some marigold stock powder stuyff and pour in some lentils and then boiled water out of yr kettle..up to the boil..simmer it with a lid on for about half hour..add more water if you need..it'll all go mushy..add mashed spuds on top..bung in oven for a while til crispy.

i can't believe you put tinned tomatoes in your cottagey pie recipes?!

[Di41]

hi all,

this used to be a favourit with our customers,

Black-eyed bean cottage pie

You will need,

Black eyed beans
Potatoes,
Tin tomatoes
Olive oil to fry
Onion
Celery
Garlic, chili if liked
Flat leaf parsley
Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt+ pepper
Soy cream
Soy milk (or other milk of your choice)

Soak overnight, then cook the black eyed been until soft but not mush,

While they are cooking, peal and cook potatoes, and make the tomato sauce, fry chopped onion, celery and carrot in a little olive oil, when almost soft add garlic to taste and some chilly if liked, add tin tomato’s, fresh flat leaf parsley, Worcestershire sauce sea salt and pepper, simmer until thick, when the beans are cooked, drain the water and mix in with the tomato, mash with a fork roughly leaving some beans whole for texture, season to taste, place in your dish, mash the potatoes with soy cream and soy milk, be careful not to add to much you don’t wont runny mash, then place on bean mixture and pop into the over until browned.

Served with warm crusty bread, enjoy

Di
x

[Di41]

oops, sorry guys, this is only me 3rd post and first recipe, maybe i shouldn't have cut and pasted it,

promise i 'll get it right next time, :)

Di
x

[Aims]

This one uses beans and veggies instead of fake mince, and it's amaaaaaaazing
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/05/skillet-gardeners-pie.html

*is hungry now*

[Roxy]

I've made the Shepherds Pie that was included in the Vegetarian Starter kit that I got from Peta years and years ago. I found a copy of it on-line here:

http://www.vegcooking.com/recipeshow.asp?RequestID=506&Search=shepards+pie

It's inexpensive to make, super easy, and really tasty. :)