by Betsy Naselli
Little Boy Blue had a good idea—letting the sheep graze while he rested under the haystack. I think he would like this animal-sparing meal!
This Little Boy Blue pie, a vegan take on shepherd’s pie, is as filling and easy to make as the meaty version, but is so much more, nutritionally: more fiber, more antioxidants, more vitamins and minerals.
I made this for part of our Thanksgiving dinner and some members of my family thought I had maybe started eating meat again. NOT! It is just that this dish has that kind of taste and texture. I think it is because of the tempeh in the recipe, which comes from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moscowitz.
It is a wonderful cookbook with a great assortment of vegan recipes. In fact, I use all of her cookbooks quite a bit. It would be worthwhile to seek them out if you are looking to add more vegan meals to your diet.
A little note: please don’t glance down at the ingredients and say, “I’m not even going to try this; there are too many ingredients!” It may appear involved, but everything can be prepared in advance if need be (I did not, and still got to the dinner at 1 p.m.), and then assembled and baked when you want to eat it.
Also, if you don’t like parsnips and turnips, you will not even realize they are in there. You can either trust me on this or just ask my grandchildren who would say, “What? It’s mashed potatoes!”
So here we go:
Little Boy Blue pie
1C lentils
1 recipe tempeh sausage (find ingredient list and instructions below)
3 or 4 large yellow potatoes
3 or 4 small turnips or one medium size rutabaga (about 1 lb.)
olive oil for roasting the parsnips and for making the “”mashed” potatoes
3 or 4 average-size parsnips (about 1 lb.)
1 head of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
1/2C sundried tomatoes, either in oil or reconstituted in warm water
salt and pepper to taste
Prepare the ingredients
Rinse and sort through lentils. Bring two cups of water to a boil, add lentils and return to boil. Lower to simmer and cook until lentils are softened. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile make tempeh sausage. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 425.
Clean parsnips. (This may be only brushing if they are reasonably clean and thin skinned; if not, peel.) Cut into large chunks and place on baking sheet with rimmed sides or any low roasting pan. Add the three peeled cloves of garlic. Toss with olive oil (about 1T) , cover pan with foil and bake at 425 until tender.* This time will depend on the size of the pieces. Set aside. If you are making the dish to eat right away, lower oven heat to 350.
Clean potatoes (peel if not organic) and clean/peel rutabaga or turnips. Cut all into equal size chunks. Place potatoes and turnips or rutabaga in a pot of water on stovetop with the remaining cloves of garlic. Boil until veggies are fork tender. Drain and mash all together with the baked parsnips and garlic. Add olive oil (1 - 2 T or so) and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
Chop sundried tomatoes into small pieces. Set aside.
Mix the cooked lentils and tempeh sausage in a bowl. Stir in sundried tomato pieces.
Assemble the pie
Place the lentil mixture in the bottom of a baking dish (13 X 9 inch or equal capacity). Top with the mashed parsnip, potato, turnip and garlic mixture. Try to cover all the lentil mixture as best as you can. Spreading and smoothing with a spatula if necessary.
Bake at 350 until it is heated through and topping is browned a bit on the edges, probably 30 minutes or so.
Tempeh sausage
1 (8-ounce) package tempeh
1T fennel seed
1T dried basil
2t dried marjoram or oregano
1/2t red pepper flakes
1t dried sage
2 cloves garlic, minced
2T tamari or soy sauce
1T olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
In a small pan, crumble the tempeh and add enough water to almost cover it. Over medium-high heat, simmer the tempeh until most of the water is absorbed, about 12-15 minutes. Drain the remaining water and add the rest of the ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
I do hope you will try this recipe. And, I’d love to hear feedback. Have a Healthy New Year!
* Note: No, you cannot just boil the parsnips with the potatoes and turnip or rutabaga without losing a valuable flavor note in the end product. When preparing a vegan dish, all of the nuances of flavor (roasted garlic and parsnips here, for instance) play a large role because unlike conventional cooking you cannot simply rely on the meat, butter and cheese for flavor!
Betsy Naselli owns The Holistic Lifestyle Company in the Syracuse area. www.TheHolisticLifestyleCompany.com
The Atlantic Chapter encourages you to move toward a plant-based diet to protect the environment, human health and wildlife, and to make better use of natural resources. To learn more and receive more recipes, contact the Biodiversity/Vegetarian Outreach Committee at LDESTEFANO3@twcny.rr.com, (315) 488-2140, 5031 Onondaga Rd., Syracuse, NY 13215-1403 or visit our website.