Category Archives: Vegan (with substitutions)

100 Days Project, Mains, Recipes, Vegan (with substitutions)

Day 25 – Creamy Pearl Barley & Porcini Mushroom Risotto

Day25

Who Hoo . . . it is Day 25, which means I am a quarter of the way through my 100 Days Project challenge.

Do you ever forget you already have an ingredient in the pantry and buy more? I do . . . recently this has happened with pearl barley; I have more pearl barley in my cupboard than anyone person should realistically have. I figured this milestone called for something a little bit fancy, and this recipe for Creamy Pearl Barley & Porcini Mushrrom Risotto, from Treehugger (my favorite green living website), originally caught my eye when I was going through a phase of experimenting with pearl barley recipes. I never got around to making this one so it was a perfect fit for today’s recipe.

Pearl Barley is the most common form of barley used for cooking. It cooks faster and is less chewy than other, less-processed forms of barley. Similar to wheat in its caloric, protein, vitamin and mineral content, pearl barley is cooked mainly in soups and stews. In this case, using barley in a risotto gives the dish a nutty flavor not usually found with risotto rice.

Porcini Mushrooms are a prized ingredient in various foods and cuisines.  Most often dried, these mushrooms keep their flavor after drying, and are then reconstituted and used in cooking.  Low in fat and digestible carbohydrates, and high in protein, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, Porcini mushrooms are commonly prepared and eaten in soups, pasta, or risotto.  They are sold commercially,but are very difficult to cultivate making Porcini mushrooms an expensive ingredient, but I figured Day 25 needed to be special.

Thank you Herbivores for sticking with me so far!! I hope you are enjoying the recipes I am sharing with you and they are inspiring you to do some cooking of your own.

Creamy Pearl Barley & Porcini Mushroom Risotto

adapted from: Treehugger

INGREDIENTS

  • 14g dried porcini mushrooms
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (use olive oil for a vegan version)
  • 4 good sized shallots, finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup pearl barley
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine (be sure it is vegan, if making the vegan version)
  • 4 cups mushroom or vegetable stock
  • 1/2 cup crumbled fresh soft cheese (skip for vegan version, or use a vegan substitute)
  • 1/4 cup snipped fresh oregano, chives, or other fresh herb of your choice
  • salt to taste

Combine porcini mushrooms with 1 cup hot water in a bowl and set aside for 5 minutes. Then remove mushrooms, squeezing out and reserving soaking liquid.  Rinse and drain the porcini mushrooms, then chop finely. Strain the soaking liquid through a paper towel lined sieve into a medium saucepan. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the shallots, porcini mushrooms, and pepper. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring often, until onion is soft but not
browned. Stir in barley until well coated with onion mixture.

Add wine and bring to a boil, stirring until wine has been absorbed. Remember you need to use a wine that tastes nice, because if you use a cheap, bad tasting wine, that flavor will transfer into your dish. Stir in 2 cups stock. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered and stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or until stock has been absorbed and barley has swollen and is starting to soften.

Meanwhile, add remaining stock to mushroom soaking liquid and heat over medium-high heat until steaming. Keep this mixture warm over low heat.  Add the hot stock mixture to barley 1/2 cup at a time, stirring often and allowing barley to absorb stock before adding more, until most of the stock is used and barley is tender but still a little chewy, about 20 minutes. You may not use all of the left over stock.

Stir in the cheese and half of your chosen fresh herb. Season with salt and more pepper to taste. Spoon into shallow bowls and sprinkle with remaining fresh herb.

Pour yourself a glass of the left over wine, and . . .

ENJOY!!

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Desert, Dips, Condiments and Dressings, Gluten Free, Recipes, Vegan (with substitutions)

Spiced Fruit Compote

Compote

So . . . I was having a discussion this week with a friend about ways to use up large amounts of apples that need eating, and she suggested an apple compote with cardamom, cloves, and ginger.

I was planning on making the Ricotta Stuffed Kumara Pancakes from my Day 24 post for Sunday brunch, and this seemed like the perfect thing to give this already decadent recipe that extra little something special. I used apples, dried apricots, and dried cranberries, but you can pretty much use any fresh and dried fruit combination that takes your fancy.

Making fruit compotes like this is more about adding a dash of this and sprinkle of that rather than an exact science; so the measurements below are approximations. Use your own discretion and tastes to make the recipe perfect for you.

Although I used butter, simply replace it with Olivani or your favorite non-dairy butter like substance, to make this a vegan treat.

Spiced Fruit Compote

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 small apples, chopped
  • 3/4 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 2 – 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
  • 3 – 5 cloves
  • 3 – 5 whole cardamom pods
  • 1/4 cup water

Place the fruit, butter, brown sugar, and spices into a saucepan over a medium heat. Cover the pot, and let the fruit cook down into the the butter and sugar liquid and start to caramelize.

Let fruit cook for 15 – 20 minutes stirring occasionally so that nothing starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. Keep a watch and if there does not seem to be enough liquid add water a little bit at a time. If you like your compote more saucy use more water, if you like it more chunky than use less. You may or may not use the whole 1/4 cup of water.

Taste the compote during the cooking time and adjust spices to your personal tastes.

Before serving, remove the cloves and cardamom pods.

ENJOY!!

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100 Days Project, Baking, Breads, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Recipes, Vegan (with substitutions)

Day 20 – Gluten Free Dinner Rolls

Day20

Now I like my gluten as much as the next person, but more and more people are finding they are fully Coeliac, have some sort of intolerance to gluten, or that eating less gluten makes them feel better on a day to day basis.

Personally, I fall into that last category. I have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, an autoimmune disease same as Coeliac disease. Studies have shown the same allergic reaction that causes the stomach to react to gluten causes antigens to form in the blood stream that may case swelling in joints, especially areas already weakened by arthritis. The simple version of this is that i have less swelling and pain in my joints when I eat less gluten. I also tend to feel more clear headed and have more energy.

I am going to a dinner party tomorrow night, where I know there will be other people who do not eat gluten, so I decided to make these Gluten Free Dinner Rolls, which is a recipe from my favorite gluten free resource: Karina, The Gluten Free Goddess. Her recipes for gluten free goodies always come out tasty, and although I have not tried this recipe, I am confident that it will make something yummy for me to bring along to the dinner party.

From Karina, The Gluten Free Goddess I have learned the key to gluten free baking is Xantham Gum. Produced by a bacteria grown through fermentation of glucose, sucrose, or lactoseis, Xantham gum is commonly used as a food additive or thickening agent. In gluten free baking it works as a binding agent replacing that natural property found in gluten.

this recipe provides for Vegan substitutions making these dinner rolls a perfect accompaniment to the Vegan/Gluten Free Split Pea Soup recipe in my Day 19 post.

Gluten Free Dinner Rolls

by: Karina, The Gluten Free Goddess

MAKES: 12 Bread Rolls

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup sorghum flour- aka jowar flour
  • 1 1/2 cups tapioca starch or potato starch (not potato flour!)
  • 1/2 cup millet flour or brown rice flour
  • 1/4 cup GF buckwheat flour or GF millet flour
  • 1/4 cup hazelnut flour or almond flour
  • 2 tablespoons coconut flour or brown rice flour
  • 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 packet rapid rise yeast
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups warm liquid (3/4 cup dairy  or non-dairy milk plus 3/4 cup hot water)
  • 1/4 cup light olive oil
  • 2 free-range local organic eggs, beaten or Ener-G Egg Replacer
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or rice vinegar

Turn your oven on and off briefly to warm it. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and sprinkle the cups with GF flour; set it aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours and dry ingredients.  Then add in the wet ingredients and beat until a thick batter forms. This bread dough is not puffy and stretchy like wheat-based dough, it is more akin to a sturdy muffin batter. Beat until smooth.

Spoon the bread dough into the twelve greased and floured cups. Even out the tops using wet fingers or the back of a wet tablespoon. Place the pan in the center of the warmed oven to let the dough rise.

Set your timer for 50 minutes. At 50 minutes, turn your oven to 350ºF. (It should come to temperature within a few minutes.)

Bake until the rolls are golden and firm- about 22 minutes. Thump them with a fingertip- they should sound hollow. Note: If your oven is slow to heat, you may have to bake the rolls longer to cook all the way through.

When the rolls are done baking, remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool a bit. Using a thin knife, loosen the edges of the rolls from the pan and ease the rolls out. They are tender when warm.

Serve immediately with butter or vegan substitute.

ENJOY!!

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100 Days Project, Dips, Condiments and Dressings, Gluten Free, Party Food, Recipes, Vegan (with substitutions)

Day 10 – White Bean & Pea Shoot Crostini

Day10

Mmmmm . . . Crostini . . .

There is nothing quite like a piece of toasted chrunchy bread topped with an assortment of tasty ingredients. These little nibbles are perfect for a party, an appetiser/entree,  along side of a salad or bowl of soup, or even on their own with a beautiful glass Sauvignon Blanc or other tipple of your choice.

That being said, flavor wise, this probably has not been one of my favorite dishes I have made so far during the 100 Days Project. It tastes nice and full of spring flavors (like lemon and mint), but the inclusion of the raw pea shoots, which I enjoy in salads and sandwiches on their own, did not quite seem to work with the other ingredients.

Th original recipe called for Fava beans, which I could not find in New Zealand this time of year, so maybe the Cannellini Beans I used instead were lacking something to bring the flavors together.

But everyone is different, so if you like the sound of the recipe, give it a try . . . you never know, it could be your new favorite.

You can easily make it gluten free by using a different base for the toppings, and  make it dairy free by leaving off the cheese.

White Bean & Pea Shoot Crostini

adapted from: The Cozy Herbivore

PREP TIME: about 10 minutes
COOKING TIME: about 20 minutes
MAKES: about 24 crostini
INGREDIENTS:

for the bean spread:

  • 1 1/2 pounds or 1 1/4 cups cannellini beans
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 ounces pea shoots, roughly chopped
  • 1 bunch or 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh mint, roughly chopped
  • 1 small bunch or 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leafed parsley, roughly chopped
  • the juice of 2 lemons (about 2 tablespoons)
  • sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
  • parmesan or manchego cheese, for garnish

for crostini:

  • 1  baguette, cut diagonally into 1/4″ slices
  • 1 clove garlic, roughly smashed
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • a sprinkle of sea salt and a few cracks of the pepper mill

DIRECTIONS

Prepare the crostini:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C. Lay baguette slices on a couple of baking sheets and rub smashed garlic clove on top of the bread. Lightly brush slices with olive oil and from, and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.

Place in oven and bake until bread is uniformly a dark golden brown, checking often so the slices don’t burn.  This will take anywhere from 10-20 minutes. Remove slices as they brown and set aside. Crostini can be made up to two days ahead and stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

Prepare the bean spread:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add cannellini beans and boil till soft.  Drain and rinse
under cold water. Alternatively you can use a slow cooker to cook the beans, or you can use canned beans if you do not have dried beans around.

Place cooked beans, olive oil, pea shoots, 4. mint, parsley and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until a thick paste is created. (If mixture is super-chunky, drizzle a little more olive oil through the top of the food processor while it’s running until a
smooth consistency is reached.) Season to taste with sea salt & pepper.

The fava paste can be made up to a day ahead and stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

To assemble:

Spread 1 teaspoon of bean paste onto each crostini. Using a vegetable peeler, shave off long, thin slices of manchego or parmesan cheese to garnish.

ENJOY!!

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100 Days Project, Desert, Gluten Free, Recipes, Vegan (with substitutions)

Day 3 – When All Else Fails . . . Make Snickers Truffles

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So . . . do you remember from my Day 2 post that I had a lot trouble getting the Snickers Bars out of my glass baking dish?

This left me with a rather large amount of broken bits, pieces, chunks that were falling part, and gooey caramel.  Probably close to half the dish wound up being unusable. I hate wasting food; I REALLY hate wasting food . . . especially something that I had put so much time and effort into making. Now those of you that know me, know I am a bit of an insomniac especially when I have something on my mind. I lay awake last night thinking about what, if anything, I could do with this rather yummy mess, and then it came to me  . . . TRUFFLES!!

Day3_3I am not talking about the mushroom kind; I am talking about the yummy, soft, chocolatey little round balls of goodness. I have never made any sort of truffle before, but figured it was worth trying to turn this chocolate, caramel, peanut, nougat mess into some sort of Snickers Truffles. Using my food processor attachment of my stick blender I pulsed the mixture until the larger bits looked broken down but still chunky (I did not want to completely blend it all together as I hoped the different textures of the original Snickers bar layers would still come through). I wet my hands slightly with cold water and rolled a small ping pong ball sized portion of the mixture into as round a shape as I could make it. The caramel was sticky enough that it held everything together, but in the current state they did not look too appetising. There will still some roasted, salted peanuts left from making the Snickers bars the day before. So I quickly pulsed those in the blender into a coarse grind, and then rolled the caramel ball in the peanuts to give it a textured, more appealing finish. VIOLA!!! . . . the Snickers Truffle was born!!

This just goes to show, that when things do not go quite according to plan in the kitchen, do not get upset or feel like you have failed . . . GET CREATIVE!!

I realize this is not officially a new recipe, because the recipe for these truffles would be the same as the for the Snickers Bars, but it is making something I have never made before, so I think it still counts.

Now all that is left to do is to see which people like more . . . the Snickers Bar or the Snickers Truffle.

ENJOY!!

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100 Days Project, Desert, Gluten Free, Recipes, Vegan (with substitutions)

Day 2 – Make Your Own Snickers Bars

day2 v2

Well we are onto Day 2 of the 100 Days Project and I decided that since last night recipes were all savory, we needed desert!!

Now I adore Snickers bars!!  I honestly do not think I would have gotten through University without them. Running between classrooms, labs, and my on campus jobs, Snickers were my first choice from the vending machines from which I all too often ate my meals.  I think I rationalised that because they had peanuts, they probably had the most protein and nutrients to keep me going through the day. Hmmm . . .

Imagine my delight at finding a recipe online, from How Sweet It Is, for making your own version of a Snickers bar . . . and it was definitely one of the recipes on the top of my list for attempting during the 100 Days Project challenge.

I figured it was not going to be easy, but was somewhat dismayed when going over the ingredients list to find multiple items that are not readily available in New Zealand: Marshmallow Fluff and pre-packaged creme caramels. Now if you are willing to go for a 20min drive and pay inflated prices, you can probably get these items as well as many other American food goodies from Martha’s Backyard, the American store in the Auckland suburb of Mt. Wellington (Yes, some of you Yanks might find this hard to believe, but there actually is such a thing as an American store).  I have to admit there have been times I have been craving some particular thing (usually Cool Ranch Doritos) that I make the trek out there and would be willing to pay whatever they are charging for that item, but the main sticking point this time is commercially made Marshmallow Fluff, like most marshmallows, is not vegetarian since it has gelatine. In keeping with the DIY tradition of my adopted Kiwi home, I figured why not try to make both the marshmallow and the caramel myself. It would take quite a bit more effort and time, but what else is a Saturday afternoon for, than attempting to make a delicious treat.

Marshmallow Fluff, made from the Angel food Vegan Marshmallow Mix

Marshmallow Fluff, made from the Angel food Vegan Marshmallow Mix

Marshmallow is something I have not had in close to 20 years and I remember them being quite yummy, which is why luckily I recently picked up a packet of Angel Food Vegan Marshmallow Mix from the SAFE shop in St. Kevin’s Arcade figuring I would find something to do with it. It turns out that Snickers bars was that something. Now I do not normally make things from packets, but vegan marshmallow is something I realistically have no idea how to even start making.  Inside the packet were two sachets clearly marked A and B and easy to follow step by step directions. The biggest obstacle is that you need a candy thermometer to know when the sugar syrup has gotten up to temperature, but I was able to borrow one from a friend who lives close by. The marshmallow fluff created by this packet tasted exactly like I remember marshmallows are supposed to taste. It brought back memories of peanut butter and fluff sandwiches or just digging in with a spoon for a quick after school sugar fix. Fluff was not something my parents allowed around the house often, but it was always a treat. There was more than enough to use for this recipe and have some leftover to form into traditional marshmallow shapes for munching and potential use in another recipe later next week; are you intrigued?

caramel

My very large pan full of caramel

As for the creme caramels, I had always seen contestants on Masterchef making their own caramel so I figured it could not be that hard, right? I did a bit of a Google search and came across this page by pastry chef David Lebovitz, which seemed to outline the process of making a dry caramel quite clearly. I followed the steps and succeeded in making a lovely brown caramel. Now the recipe says to melt the store bought creme caramels and add 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream, which David Lebovitz’s blog also talks about using cream to “stop” the caramel, which means stop it from fully hardening. So I added my 1/4 cup of cream, mixed it through, and set the pan aside while working on another task for the recipe. YIKES!! When I came back to the pan, I saw that the caramel had completely hardened in the pan into a rock solid, smooth as glass sheet. Only too late did I realize that the store bought creme caramels would already have cream mixed through them, and the additional 1/4 cup was only to smooth out the texture further. I spent the next hour or so, gently reheating (you do not want to do this too quickly as the caramel can easily burn) the caramel mixture so that I could add more cream and achieve the correct consistency. In the end I wound up with a very large amount of lovely, incredibly rich caramel  . . . Phew!! If anyone needs caramel for anything, just let me know; I have PLENTY left over.

Make Your Own Snickers Bars

INGREDIENTS:

bottom chocolate layer

  • 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate out of personal preference)
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter

Thoroughly grease your baking pan or put down a layer of wax paper. Melt ingredients together in a saucepan, double boiler or microwave, then pour into the baking dish and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely.

nougat layer

  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetarian/vegan marshmallow fluff
  • 1 1/2 cup salted peanuts chopped, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved and bring to a boil. Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in fluff, and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Turn off heat and fold in peanuts, then pour over bottom chocolate layer. Let cool completely. I wanting to make this recipe Vegan, you can substitute the butter for a non-dairy alternative like Olivani, and you can buy a soy evaporated milk and the Angel Food Vegan Marshmallow Mix from the SAFE store in st Kevin’s arcade.

caramel layer

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 250 g heavy cream

Follow the technique for making a dry caramel found on David Lebovitz’s page. Once your caramel mixture is glossy turn down the heat and stir in the heavy cream to “stop” the caramel. This may bubble a little but that is OK, keep on stirring until the heavy cream is well combined and the caramel is smooth. Keep a glass of ice water nearby and drop a small amount on caramel into the water to see if it will completely harden or keep its gooey texture. If hardens too much, add more cream, if does not harden enough, add more sugar. Pour over nougat layer and let cool completely. For a Vegan alternative you can buy soy caramel from the SAFE Store in St. Kevins arcade.

top chocolate layer

  • 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate out of personal preference)
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter

Melt ingredients together in a saucepan or microwave, then pour over caramel and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving, then cut as desired. These can stay at room temperature, but they may get gooey.

While I can not say this is the most successful recipe I have ever made, I learned a lot about many different processes. I succeeded in making Vegan marshmallow (which I will definitely be doing again) and my own caramel. Both of which I have never done before . . . YAY!!  The above recipe is my version, which I hope clarifies the steps and means making this will be much easier for the next person, than it was for me.  My only further suggestions would be to make sure you do each step in the order they are listed, as trying to jump around and do multiple steps at once caused more problems then it saved time.

Also you may want to use either a tin foil disposable tray or silicone baking dish for this recipe, as I had a lot of trouble actually getting the finished Snickers bars out of my glass baking dish.  If you are going to use a glass dish line it with wax paper, which will help the finished product come out (I forgot to do this).

These come out incredibly rich . . . I would recommend cutting into small pieces, and serving with a cup of tea or warm milk.

 ENJOY!!

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100 Days Project, Gluten Free, Mains, Recipes, Vegan (with substitutions)

Day 1 – Lentil Sheppard’s Pie with Goat Cheese Potato Top

Day1_new

Today was Day 1 of my 100 Days Project challenge and the first official Herbivore food entry . . . how exciting is this!?!

Every good adventure needs a good story at the beginning, so I decided to start things off with a bit of a celebration. I invited a few friends around for dinner, set aside a nice bottle of wine (Barossa Babe 2006 Shiraz), and dug into my trove of untested recipes to see what gems I could come up with.  This recipe for Lentil Sheppard’s Pie with Goat’s Cheese Potato Top is one from a vegetarian food blog called The Cozy Herbivore that has been floating around in my collection for awhile now. As it is winter here in New Zealand, I thought it would be the perfect thing to fill our bellies on a chilly night.

Being a Friday and therefore somewhat limited in after work cooking time, I knew I was going to have do my shopping ahead. Some of the ingredients, like kale, tend to be difficult to find in New Zealand so I went to my favorite produce shop Art of Produce, in Ponsonby. If you have never been to this place, it is a must!!! Mostly providing to the hospitality trade, the place is a warehouse with with 2 giant walk-in refrigerators, that are stocked with pallets, boxes, bags, and baskets of almost any fruit and vegetable you can imagine and a few other hard to find products. While sometimes this over abundance makes looking for a particular item a bit of a scavenger hunt, the staff seem to readily know where any given item is in the chaos and you only have to ask. Everything is really fresh, well priced, and even sourced locally when possible.

As this recipe calls for red wine, I also had to decide what wine to use. Many people believe that you should cook with cheap wine.  The problem with this option is that often cheap wine does not taste very nice and you are transferring that “not so nice” flavor to your cooking. I believe you should cook with a reasonably priced bottle that has a flavor appropriate to the recipe you are making. I tend to choose the slightly nicer bottle, that just happens to be on sale at the bottle shop or grocery store. For this recipe I used Brancott Estate Living Land Series 2011 Pinot Noir, which coincidentally is a wine label undergoing conversion to being fully Organic and so in line with Herbivore ideology. To be completely honest, this is not a wine that I personally enjoy drinking, as it is too light and fruity for my palette, but that fruitiness is ideal for adding that extra depth to the flavor of this dish.

I was excited all day about starting my challenge, but of course I did not get home from work until much later than expected. Which means I was in a bit of a hurry, as my friends were going to start arriving soon for dinner. One of things to take into consideration is that there are a lot of processes in this recipe, and although they are all easy, they may take longer than expected to prepare. If I was going to make this dish again, I probably would save it for a weekend or make it up the night before to just pop into the oven the next day.  It ended up taking me almost 3 hours to prepare and cook this dish, which means we were not eating dinner till close to 9:30pm. Luckily for me, my friends are more than happy to sit around drinking wine, chatting, and being entertained by watching me run around in the kitchen like a mini cyclone. Plus, I did have a bowl of fresh bread rolls that I had made before going to work in morning for them to munch on. You must feed the masses if you are going to keep them waiting.

Even though it took longer than expected to make, I would consider this recipe a great success because it was YUMMY!! The recipe makes a large baking dish of Sheppard’s Pie, and between the 4 of us we pretty much ate almost the whole entire thing. There were lots of happy eating noises being made, going back for seconds and thirds even though supposedly “could not eat another bite”, and picking around the edges that might as well be another serving. Along with the Sheppard’s Pie I served sauteed Green Beans with Leek and Toasted Almonds (which one friend thought was the best part of the meal), and what was left of the Simple Bread Rolls. I will be posting the recipes for both of these over the next few days.

Another nice variation of this dish would be to make it as individual Sheppard’s pies in large ramekins.

This recipe is completely Gluten Free, and can easily be made Vegan by substituting out the goat cheese and buttermilk in the potato top.

Lentil Sheppard’s Pie with Goat Cheese Potato Top

by The Cozy Herbivore

PREP TIME: about 30 minutes
COOKING TIME: about 1 1/2 hours
MAKES: about 8 one cup servings

INGREDIENTS:

for the base:

  • 2 cups French green lentils (also called Puy lentils)
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 2 cups water (I used mushroom stock for a heartier flavor)
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 2 medium onions diced, about 2 cups)
  • 2-3 medium carrots, cut into 10mm quarter moons
  • 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, removed from stems and finely chopped
  • 200 grams Crimini mushrooms, sliced (Crimini mushrooms are similar to white Button mushrooms, but they are a darker brown in colour and have more flavor as they have been left to mature longer; they are the middle growth stage between white Button mushrooms and Portobello mushrooms)
  • 3-4 leaves kale, stems removed, chopped into bite-sized pieces (you can substitute with silver beet, if you cannot find kale)
  • sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

for the top:

  • 1.5kg Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (neither of these potato types are available in New Zealand; I substituted with Agria potato, but you can use any floury potato)
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 head garlic
  • 125g herbed chevre or soft goat cheese, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk, plus more as needed
  • sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

for the sauce:

  • 2 cups red wine
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons dried tarragon
  • 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.Cut the top of the head of garlic off and wrap the whole thing loosely in aluminum foil. Place in the oven and roast until fragrant and very soft, about 45 minutes. When garlic is tender, allow to cool slightly and squeeze out roasted cloves, discarding papery skins. Set aside.

While the garlic is roasting . . . Spread lentils out on a sheet pan or clean counter and sift through them, discarding any stones or stems. Rinse lentils in cold water. Place lentils, 1 cup red wine and 2 cups water (or stock) in a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot. Bring mixture to a boil and immediately reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until tender, about 30-40 minutes. When lentils are done, remove from heat, drain through a fine mesh, toss with a little olive oil, and set aside.

While lentils are simmering . . . place the chopped potatoes in another heavy-bottomed stockpot with 4 cups of vegetable stock and 4 cups of water. Bring mixture to a boil and immediately reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until potatoes are extremely tender, almost falling apart.When potatoes are done, drain liquid and place potatoes back into stockpot with a loose lid to keep them warm and moist.

While the lentils and potatoes are bubbling on the stove and the garlic is roasting in the oven . . . heat up 1 tablespoon olive oil in a saute pan until the surface of the oil begins to shimmer. Add chopped onion and saute until soft and browned. Add carrot quarter moons and fresh thyme and saute for 5 minutes more, until carrots just begin to soften. Remove onions and carrots from pan and set aside . . .

Heat up another tablespoon of olive oil in saute pan. Add mushrooms and saute until mushrooms have lost their liquid and begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add chopped kale and cooked onions and carrots to pan. Season with salt & pepper. Saute until kale turns bright green, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir cooked lentils into vegetable mixture and set aside.

Prepare the mashed potato topping: pass cooked potatoes and roasted garlic through a potato ricer. (Alternately you can do this in a stand mixer or even with a hand-held potato masher for more rustic results, but a potato ricer will get you the fluffiest topping). Stir in goat cheese and buttermilk until a smooth consistency is reached. If you want to make this dish Vegan, you can leave out the goat cheese and substitute soy milk, rice milk, or olive oil for the buttermilk. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Prepare the sauce: in a small saute pan, combine 2 cups red wine, 1 teaspoon honey and 2 teaspoons dried tarragon. Bring mixture to a boil and reduce by almost half, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. When mixture looks thick (but not too syrup-y: be careful not to over-reduce!), reduce heat and half-remove the pan from the burner. Place the cold butter in the pan and continually swirl the pan until butter is melted. When butter is melted, turn off burner. To make this recipe Vegan, substitute the butter with Olivani or other non-dairy butter alternative.

Grease a large casserole dish. Place lentil and vegetable mixture on the bottom and spread evenly through the dish. Pour red wine sauce over lentils and vegetables. Place mashed potatoes in a piping bag with a large star tip and make whatever design you like on the top of the pie. Or you can simply spread the potato mixture over the lentils with a spatula and use a fork to make a cross-hatch design.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until mixture is heated through. Place casserole under broiler for 5 minutes (definitely keep an eye on it, though– those things can take your food from brown to burned fast) or until top is crisped and browned.

ENJOY!!

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