Lentil Shepherd's Pie : Vegan

As regular readers know, this blog brings a variety of articles, studies, thoughts, music and recipes! It is presented in a magazine style - we hope something for everyone. Our main focus is about the Low Carb Higher (Healthy) Fat lifestyle, LCHF for short, and you can read/find out more about that here

In recent months we have seen that more and more we have regular readers, and followers, who choose to eat vegetarian or vegan. With that in mind I am passing on this recipe suggestion from Rachel at Food Matters site.

She has taken the much loved Shepherd's Pie and created a vegan version - but perhaps even if you are not vegan, you may enjoy this dish!

INGREDIENTS:
800 g sweet potatoes
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 sticks of celery, diced
1 tbsp. ground coriander
1 tbsp. olive oil
½ a bunch of fresh thyme
350 g mushrooms, chopped
12 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 cups organic vegetable stock
400 g pre-soaked lentils, drained and rinsed
400 g pre-soaked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Handful of fresh, flat-leaf parsley
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 lemon
30 g almonds, crushed

METHOD:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
2. Peel and chop sweet potato into rough 2cm chunks and place into a large pan of cold, salted water over a medium heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender.
3. Drain and leave to steam dry, then return to the pan a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Mash until smooth, then set aside.
4. To a medium pan over medium heat, add diced onion, carrot, celery, 2 of the crushed garlic cloves and ground coriander with a good splash of oil.
5. Pick in the thyme leaves, then cook until softened.
6. Meanwhile, roughly chop the mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes, then add to the pan along with the vinegar. Cook until soft.
7. Stir in the stock, lentils and chickpeas, then leave to cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until slightly thickened and reduced. Add parsley, salt and pepper to taste and stir through.
8. Transfer to a baking dish (roughly 25 cm x 30 cm).
9. Spread the sweet potato mash over the top, scuffing it up with the back of a spoon.
10. In a small bowl add the third crushed garlic clove, rosemary leaves and crushed almonds with a splash of olive oil. Crush and mix together then sprinkle over the mash.
11. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve with seasonal greens.

From original idea here

Some readers may prefer this LCHF version of Shepherds Pie, use the standard recipe, but substitute the mashed potato, with mashed swede, or grated cauliflower.

... just another reminder that, this blog brings a variety of articles and recipe ideas, and it is important to note, not all may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.

All the best Jan