What’s for dinner? Something like a Shepherd’s pie

You’ll need: For the meaty filling – 3 Tbsp B-well Cooking Olive Oil; 1 onion, diced; 340g soy mince, dried small pieces; 500g button/ brown/ porcini/ shiitake mushrooms, sliced and diced; 2 handfuls of barley; 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 2 Tbsp tomato puree; 1 cup vegetable stock; 1 can chopped plum/ Italian tomatoes; 1 tsp paprika; ¼- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (to heat preference); ½ tsp salt; 1 tsp black pepper; ½ tsp cumin powder; 1 tsp dried basil; 1 stick of cinnamon; ½ tsp oregano; 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 2 tsp soya sauce; 1 Tbsp maple syrup; 1 cup frozen peas, rinsed; ½ cup fresh coriander.

For the mashed potatoes – 4 large Russet potatoes, peeled and evenly diced; 4 Tbsp vegan butter; 80ml – 120ml soy milk (or other non-dairy milk); sea salt and black pepper to taste; nutritional yeast, to sprinkle on top.

How to:

Place the peeled and diced potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, then simmer for around 10- 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft and cooked. Add the sweet potatoes after 5 minutes. Cook until potatoes are tender and soft for approximately 15 more minutes.

Drain the potatoes, return to the saucepan, add in the salt.

Add the mushrooms into a food processor and pulse until chopped into small bits.

In a saucepan, heat the B-well Cooking Olive Oil, add half the chopped garlic, brown and then remove from the pan and set aside for the mash.

Into the garlic oil add the onions and sauté until braised, then add the chopped mushrooms, salt and pepper. Sauté until mushrooms have browned.

Add the Worcestershire, soya sauce and garlic to the onion and mushrooms and stir, cook for 3 minutes or until the mixture dries.

Now add in the diced tomatoes, the tomato paste, veg broth, soya mince, basil, oregano, paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, maple syrup and stick cinnamon. Stir to combine then add two handfuls of barley and the frozen peas.

Bring to a boil, replace the lid and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the soy mince has cooked and peas are soft. Remove off heat, remove cinnamon and bay leaves.

When the potatoes are cooked, add in the vegan butter and soy milk and mash it up. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Dish the veggie mince to a pie or casserole dish and smooth down.

Add the mashed potatoes on top and smooth them down as the top layer. Use a fork to create ridges in the mashed potatoes, then dot with some vegan butter on top and generously sprinkle some nutritional yeast on the top and crack of black pepper.

Place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes. In the last 5 minutes switch over to grill for some extra browning on top.

* Recipe & image by B-Well Foods.