Shepherd's Pie

Picture courtesy of Karina Allrich at Gluten-Free Goddess

Shannon loves holidays...like LOVES them! I wanted to make something spectacularly Irish and delicious so I made vegan shepherd's pie, butter braised cabbage and homemade Irish soda bread. I adapted this recipe from the Gluten-Free Goddess's site with a few tweaks here and there. http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2011/02/gluten-free-shepherds-pie-two-ways.html 

I love, love, love her site and she has copious amounts of vegan recipes, too, which makes me very happy! Karina's food is always delicious and her pictures are amazing. My pictures for this dish turned out horribly so these are her beautiful pictures. 

Filling
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup zucchini, sliced into half-moons
1 cup chopped broccoli florets
1 14-oz can artichoke hearts, drained, quartered
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 teaspoons Italian style herbs (blend of oregano, thyme, marjoram, basil, parsley)
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon rosemary, minced
Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and stir in the onion and garlic. Add the carrots, zucchini, and broccoli. Stir and cook lightly until fork tender, roughly ten minutes. If you prefer your veggies crisper, cook only until tender-crisp. Add peas and season with sea salt and ground pepper; set aside.

Gravy
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (or rice flour if you want to make it gluten-free)
1 and 1/2 cups non-dairy milk, warmed
2 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
2 tablespoons GF nutritional yeast (or use some gluten-free bouillon if you prefer)
Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium-low heat; stir in the rice flour to make a paste. Stir and cook for half a minute. Slowly add in the warm non-dairy milk, and keep stirring. Add the vegan butter, nutritional yeast, and sea salt. When it begins to thicken remove from heat and taste test. It should taste mild and creamy. The herbs in the veggies will add rosemary-sage flavor.


Mashed Potatoes
3 cups peeled, diced red potatoes
2 tbs Earth Balance butter
Sea salt
Vegetable broth and/or non-dairy milk, as needed

Boil the potatoes in a pot until fork tender, about 25 minutes. Drain well. Mash with a potato masher; add a splash of vegetable broth or non-dairy milk, the butter and season with sea salt, to taste. Stir till smooth and creamy, adding a little more broth or milk until the potatoes are fluffy and smooth. Set aside.



To assemble:


Pour the gravy over the filling mixture and gently mix until the veggies are coated with gravy.

Spoon the filling into the ramekins. Top with a big spoonful of mashed potatoes.

Sprinkle with non-dairy shredded cheese, if you like.

Place the ramekins on a baking sheet (to catch any bubbling-over drips) and bake in the center of a hot oven for 30 to 35 minutes. I tented my ramekins with foil for the first half of baking time to keep the mashed potatoes moist. Then I removed the foil and let the the topping brown a bit.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease four single serving 10-oz ramekins with vegan buttery spread (I used Earth Balance). Set aside.