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This dish is inspired by a perfectly good recipe for Puy Pie by James Reeson of James Can Cook. If you have the time, I highly recommend you make it. In fact, I actually intended on making it. But on retrieving ingredients from the cupboard I noticed that my yeast had expired. And feeling somewhat less than inspired to make a dash for the supermarket in the pouring rain, I decided on amending the recipe as I am want to do. So voila - Shepherd’s Pie!

Now if puy lentils are hard to come by, or, like me, you like to buy Australian produce, then a French style green lentil is an excellent substitute. Mount Zero produce these, and to be quite honest, I think they rock!

Puy Shepherd’s Pie
250g puy lentils
3 bay leaves
2 carrots
2 onions
3-4 sticks celery
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
2 tablespoons kecap manis
2 shakes of worcester sauce
2 shakes of tabasco sauce

Topping
400g tin of chickpeas
Half a large cauliflower
A little milk

Put lentils into a couple of litres of boiling water with two bay leaves and a good pinch of salt. Cook for 45 minutes till tender.

While this is boiling away, roughly chop the celery, carrot, onion and garlic and cook in a hot pan containing a little oil. Add a pinch of salt and a bay leaf. Cook until the vegetables are almost translucent.

Add the drained lentils to the pan, adding 2-3 tablespoons of the liquid the lentils have cooked in for extra flavour. Stir the vegetables and the lentils to combine, adding the tamarind pulp and kecap manis. Add a couple of shakes of worcester and a couple of shakes of tabasco to your own taste.

Roughly chop the cauliflower and place into boiling water and cook for about 20 minutes. Just before done, throw in a can of drained/rinsed chick peas. Drain the cauliflower / chickpeas and then place into a food processor and blitz till smooth, adding milk as required to obtain a mashed potato consistency.

Pour the vegetable and lentil filling into an overproof casserole dish. Put the mash on top and smooth it out. Sprinkle with some sweet paprika for looks.

Bake in a 200 degree Celcius oven for about 50 minutes.

Tasting Notes
This dish tastes quite meaty, despite its vegetarian inclination. It can also be easily tweaked for dairy intolerances by substituting the milk in the mash for a little of the leftover cooking water. It is fantastically tasty, and the cauliflower / chick pea mash is a nice nutty alternative to ordinary starchy potato. Serve with a crisp green salad, and as James suggests, a “big” Shiraz.

Written by mellie on June 13th, 2006 | Tags: Uncategorized | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL