Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
I’m very happy to announce that we raised $7,234 dollars (and climbing!) for the Japan Disaster Fundraiser!! I am absolutely blown away and touched by your generosity. I never dreamed that this much money was possible in just over a day’s time. This money is going to help many in need!
I’m currently working on the Excel document for the giveaway (it’s taking me longer than planned!) and I will be sure to update this post later today when I have the winners selected, so be sure to check back.
UPDATE: The winners can be found on this page.
To me, St. Patty’s Day is the final hurrah of comfort food for the Winter season. Spring is right around the corner (4 days, but who’s counting?), and after today, we will gradually shift to lighter fare in hopes that the weather follows suit.
We are actually being blessed with beautiful Spring weather too! I’m hoping the snow will be gone by tomorrow.
But, today, it’s all about the warm comfort food to bid farewell to Old Man Winter.
Last night we paid tribute to our Irish roots with this delicious vegan shepherd’s pie with gravy. I wonder what our Irish relatives would think of a vegan shepherd’s pie? I’ll have to make it for them if we make it to Ireland this year! Eric was actually happy to have a vegan version because he is not a fan of ground meat, which is traditionally used in this dish.
It was not only the first time I have made a vegan version of this classic dish, but it was also the first time I have ever made a shepherd’s pie, period! It turns out that it isn’t so scary after all, unless of course you are afraid of using a knife. I’m not going to sugar coat this, this recipe requires a lot of peeling and chopping so be warned.
But, it was worth the effort, resulting in an extremely comforting and delicious dish.
Vegan Shepherd's Pie with Gravy
Yield
6 generous servings
Prep time
Rest time
10 minutes
Cook time
Total time
Adapted from Choosing Raw.
Ingredients
For the mashed potatoes
- 3 lb. potatoes (I used a bag of organic red potatoes), peeled and chopped
- 2 tbsp Earth Balance, or equivalent
- 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp non-dairy milk (I used soy)
- 1 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
For the vegetable filling
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 medium carrots, peeled & small dice
- 2 parsnips (or other root vegetable), peeled & small dice
- 4 celery stalks, small dice
- 1 cup, full sodium vegetable broth (or more as needed)
- 1/4 cup red wine (or more broth)
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2-3/4 tsp kosher salt, to taste + black pepper
- 3 tbsp flour (I used whole wheat)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425°F and lightly oil a 2.5 quart/2.3 litre casserole dish. Place peeled and chopped potatoes into a large pot and add water, 2 inches above potatoes. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low for about 30 minutes until very tender.
- Meanwhile, prepare the vegetable filling. Chop the onion and mince the garlic and add to a skillet along with the oil. Cook on low for about 5-7 minutes. Now add in the chopped carrots, parsnip, and celery. Cook on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes.
- When the potatoes are done cooking, drain and add back to the pot. Add the Earth Balance (or butter), milk, and seasonings and mash well. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the liquid ingredients (broth, red wine (optional), thyme, and flour). Add this liquid mixture to the vegetables in the skillet and stir well. Add your salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another 5-10 minutes or so until thickened. Season to taste.
- Scoop vegetable mixture into casserole dish. Spread on the mashed potato mixture and garnish with paprika, ground pepper, and Thyme. Bake at 425°F for about 35 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Mixture will be very hot in the middle so be careful! I suggest serving this with All-Purpose Vegan Gravy.
Tip:
Suggestion: Serve with All-Purpose Vegan Gravy
I adapted this recipe from the lovely Gena over at Choosing Raw. Her version is a bit different than mine, using mushrooms. I didn’t have any mushrooms on hand (grocery store was out of them!), so I made do without.
Again, lots of chopping for this recipe…but keep your eye on the prize! You could always make this process go faster by using a food processor too.
Add the the oil, onion, and garlic into the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes on low heat.
Now add in the carrots, parsnips, and celery and cook on low for about 10 minutes or so.
Make the boozy broth. It wouldn’t be a St Patty’s Day meal with out a little booze!
After mixing the seasonings, flour, broth, and wine together in a bowl, add it into the veggie mixture and cook on medium for another 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, make the mashed potatoes and set aside.
By this point, your veggie filling will have thickened up nicely. It shouldn’t have too much liquid in it at this point. If for some reason your mixture is dried out, you can add a bit more broth as needed.
Pour it into a 2.5 quart/2.3 litre casserole dish.
Spread mashed potatoes on top and garnish with paprika, Thyme, and black pepper.
Bake for about 35 minutes, until golden, at 425F. The veggie mixture will bubble around the edges!
And it will be SUPER HOT, so please cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving…tongues will burn. Trust me on this one. ;)
I highly recommend making the vegan gravy to go along with it as it complemented this dish really well.
I think this was a good first attempt at making a vegan shepherd’s pie. When I make it next time, I might add in a layer of my ‘veggie meat’ made with mashed beans, chopped walnuts, and seasonings, similar to the one used in my taco salad. I think it would give it a great texture!
Tonight we enjoy leftovers!
I’ll leave you with some fun Irish proverbs to kick off St. Patty’s Day…
Never bolt the door with a boiled carrot. (hahah)
Man is incomplete until he marries. After that, he is finished.
It is sweet to drink but bitter to pay for.
Don’t break your shin on a stool that is not in your way.
If you dig a grave for others, you might fall into it yourself.
May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.
I LOVE those proverbs. Haha. They’re great! The shepherd’s pie looks absolutely fantastic. Yum!! And vegan Bailey’s?! I always want to make that this time of year but have yet to actually do it.
You are truly wonderful for doing that Japan fundraiser, Angela. What an AMAZING response!!!
Holy wow! That is a lot of money. Great job
This pie looks delicious
Angela-
That is awesome!!! Since I was not one of the winners, I still would like to purchase some Glo Bars and if possible, can some of the proceeds go towards the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami??
Is there any way it can be done?
Congrats on your fundraiser!! That is such a huge blessing! I wish I could have donated… my paycheck is running so late! (It comes in the mail— ughh)
I made this sheperd’s pie for dinner and it was AMAZING! Thank you for sharing– my boyfriend ate nearly half of it:) And the gravy is so delicious– we’re definitely writing it down to use for Thanksgiving! Thanks!
That gravy looks better than non-vegan gravy!!!
Looks fantastic my husband would be in love with the “gravy” but its missing protein, I bet tempeh would be good fit will need to try and great work on the fundraising. I also got my glo bars last week they are delish!! Thanks so much!
that looks so yummy! it’s been awhile since i had potatoes! i was just eyeing them at the grocery store last night.. i guess i should pick some up and try out this recipe ^_^
No way! That is SO amazing!!! :D I am so glad all of the money was raised for all of those people in need. :)
I make have been making vegan shepherd’s pie (which we call Shepherdess pie) for a while now, following the EXACT recipe for regular old shepherd’s pie (including generous amounts of Guinness!!), but replacing the lamb or beef called for with cooked french lentils. Just season to taste, and bake. UNBELIEVABLY amazing. Truly.
another Angela recipe bookmarked!!
Congrats on the amazing amount of money you have raised. It is so tragic that things like this happen in our beautiful world.
I can’t believe how much money was raised! That’s remarkable!!
I didn’t get any St. Patty’s day fare in my belly this year. :( well, aside from the buckets of green beer that I drank. ;-)
Angela, came over to this post from Foodgawker. My vegetarian shepherd’s pie is right next to your vegan! My mother’s family were English, so I grew up eating shepherd’s pie, usually made with ground beef. Then I began making it with ground turkey, then with lentils. If I make it for vegans, I take the dairy out of the mashed potatoes. Your all vegetable version looks good as well! AND reminds me that I don’t do anything with parsnips nearly often enough. Love your photos and the plaid tablecloth.
Thanks so much! I will have to check out your recipe. Lentils is a wonderful idea!!
Beautiful! So, so beautiful. Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Ange :) Miss you!
I made this for St. Patty’s day last week, with a few changes, and re-posted on my blog. I hope that’s okay! It was so good. My first experience with shepherd’s pie, too, but definitely not my last. Thanks!
I made this last week (too keep for a couple meals throughout the week). It was great! Instead of the vegan gravy you suggested (I just didn’t have time), I made more of the liquidy- parts of the veggie filling- Vegetable broth, the red cooking wine, the flour and spices to thicken it- Perfect and fast compliment! (not to mention delish to add to pretty much anything!)
Angela, first off I wanted to say what an inspiration your blog is! I found you while searching for sweet potato dip funnily enough; it was right around the time I was going to be cutting a lot out of my diet (for a few reasons). It wasn’t going to be a permanent thing, but after finding your blog and seeing all of your amazing recipes and reading your story, well, let’s just say you’ve got me thinking this is something worth doing in the long run! I had started making my own green smoothies before, but now I definitely push to make myself one a day, and I always feel great after. So thank you for sharing your time with us and giving us amazing recipes and ideas, because whatever our food status is (vegan, omnivore, steak enthusiast, hehe) I think we can all find something to enjoy!
Now that I have un-lurked myself, I do have a question for you regarding this recipe. If I made it in a batch like you (in one go), how long would it keep in the fridge do you think (in an airtight container)? I’m all for trying to make something last for a few meals if I can help it, so I’d hope it could last 4-5 days or so! Also, if I bought mini loaf tins and made individual pies, do you think it would be better to leave them un-baked in the fridge and then bake them when I want? Or bake them all and then put them in the fridge and reheat? Sorry, I know it’s probably a personal preference as to what to do, I just don’t want to worry about anything going bad!
Any advice would be great, but I know you’re a busy woman! Otherwise I’ll just try my luck and see how it goes. Thank you again though! You’re awesome!
Hey Alison! Thanks so much for your kind words! :)
As for the questions, I don’t think the pie would last longer than 3 days in the fridge. I think your idea of the mini casserole dish/pan would work too. This dish didn’t reheat that well in my opinion, so maybe that would be a better option. Goodluck & enjoy! Angela
My mom and I had a version of this last night for dins last night and it was amazzzing!! We added a layer of crockpot navy beans that my mom had made for us the night before. Next time we are going to try a layer of just Yves, ground soy, veggies and sweet potato!
Thanks ANGE! KEEP UP THIS AMAZING BLOG!
I have just found your blog thanks to Pintrest and boy am I glad I did!! I just have one question, is it necessary to use full sodium broth, or can low sodium be used? Thanks and I am excited to try many of your recipes!!
You can use whichever you wish, but be sure to adjust the salt to taste. :)
This was so delicious! Thank you! I added your vegan gravy as well as a layer of “taco meat”. The whole family LOVED!