Shepherd's Potato

Hi, this recipe is from the BOSH! Simple Recipes, Amazing Food, All Plants Cookbook, page 85, by Ian Theasby and Henry Firth. This is my 2nd time cooking from this book and so far so good, I have found the recipes easy to follow and delicious. In the next two weeks, I've got 2 more from this book, and likely more to come in the future after that too. 

This recipe was really tasty and looked super. I enjoyed making the filling for the potatoes, it certainly had a similar base to a meat shepherd's pie, just with extra mushrooms, and beans as well, this meant that although the flavour was different, it was still similar to that of a shepherd's pie. 

This dish takes a while to make, but this is mainly the potatoes cooking and the filling simmering a bit, so don't be put off by the long 'takes' time. Also, you can easily adapt the recipe with lots of different ingredients, I think it would also be nice with sweet potato, or any other type of pulse e.g. chickpea, broad beans. I used cannellini beans. 

To serve, I just did peas and some spinach, at the table you may like to have some extra butter to put on them (dairy-free if needed) or even some gravy. 

Enjoy!

Hazel :)

Final Product - BOSH! Shepherd's Potato.

Fill to the brim with the chilli.

Top with a dollop of mashed potato.

Voila!

Dietary Info:

-Vegan

-Vegetarian

-Dairy-Free

-No Nuts

-Gluten-Free

-Main Course

Makes: 6

Takes: 1hr 30mins

Ingredients: 

-6 large baking potatoes {Or however many people you are catering for, I did for 4 so I used 4 jacket potatoes, if you do 3, or less, scale down the filling recipe, if you do more than 6, you will want to scale it up.}

-2tbsp olive oil, plus a little bit extra {I used extra virgin olive oil.}

-1 white onion {I used a white onion, but I think that red onion would also be nice here.}

-1 celery stick

-1 medium carrot

-2 garlic cloves {I used 3.}

-3 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus extra to serve {I used about 1-2tsp dried rosemary.}

-3 sprigs fresh thyme

-2tsp wholegrain mustard

-3tbsp tomato purée

-1tbsp soy sauce

-150g chestnut mushrooms

-120g cooked puy lentils (homemade or from a packet) {We had some dried cannellini beans in a packet in the cupboard so I cooked some of those, this means that you can use any pulses, cooking them if dried, or use them straight away from a packet/tin.}

-250ml vegetable stock

-1+1/2tbsp dairy-free butter {As I am not Vegan, I used dairy-based margarine and a splash of cow's milk, if you are Vegan though, you would use dairy-free butter/milk.}

-2tbsp nutritional yeast {I didn't use this.}

-1tsp chilli flakes, to serve

-salt and black pepper

Method:

1: Preheat the oven to 200℃ / 220℃ fan / 390℉ / gas 7. Get a baking tray and put a deep frying pan on a medium heat. {I would advise not putting the frying pan on the heat yet, as you need to chop all the veg first, and it is just a bit of a waste of power.}

2: Put the potatoes on the baking tray and prick them with a fork. Drizzle with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, then rub them all over until completely covered. Put the tray in the hot oven and bake for 45-60 minutes, until soft. {60mins for larger potatoes, 45 for smaller.}

3: Peel and finely chop the white onion. Trim the leaves and root from the celery, then finely chop. Trim the carrot, peeling it if you like, {I left the skin on, if you do this, make sure to wash it first.} and finely chop.

4: Add a little oil to the hot pan. Add the chopped onions, celery and carrots and fry until they start to soften, about 5-10 minutes. Peel and crush the garlic into the pan. Remove the leaves from the rosemary and thyme by running your thumb and forefinger from the top to the base of the stems (the leaves should easily come away), finely chop and add to the pan. Season and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add the mustard, tomato purée and soy sauce, and stir. Reduce the heat to a light simmer. {Throughout this, you may need to turn to a smaller hob to cook on if the heat gets a bit too high and it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.}

5: Chop the mushrooms very finely {I just sliced them, but dicing also works.} and add them to the pan. Add the lentils, stir everything together and cook for 5-7 minutes. Pour in the stock and mix. {Boil off any extra stock, you don't want it too watery. This will probably happen during the last bit of potato cooking time and while you are scraping out the insides of the potato.}

6: When they’re done, take the potatoes out of the oven and let them cool down for a few minutes. Use a sharp knife to cut a round lid off the top of each potato. {Or peel back the skin to get access to the middle.} Scoop out the fluffy middles, leaving at least a 1cm lining all round the insides, and transfer to a bowl. Add the dairy-free butter, nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt and pepper to the bowl and mash.

7: Fill each potato to the brim with the mushroom mince and top with a large dollop of mashed potato. {You may need to use your hands to get the mash to stay on them.} {See pictures} Put the tray in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes to get the topping nice and crispy. Take the tray out of the oven. {If they're not going crispy, stick them under the grill for a few minutes.} Sprinkle each potato with chilli flakes, the remaining chopped rosemary and some pepper before serving. {I also did peas and spinach.}

While you're here...

I have a Pinterest for all my recipes, where you can save them to boards for the future and categorise them into different types of recipe e.g Sunday Dinners, picnic ideas etc. My account is @hazellikestocook, or find the link below. Also, I have a whole blog post explaining this in more detail here and https://hazelscookingandbakingblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/pinterest.html. 

https://pin.it/5xDvARk - my profile

This recipe:

https://pin.it/2m8HgLg