I’ve made a lentil shepherd’s pie once before and when Josh named it as one of his top meals I’ve made I wanted to make it again last week. This time I wanted to make it even better than last time and I really think it was! The lentil mixture is so savory, believe me you won’t miss the meat, and it’s full of protein irony goodness. This time I added a lot of baby bella mushrooms to the mixture and it was such a good addition. I used the frozen mixture for mirepoix to make it super easy to make and the most important part is to make sure the lentils are cooked and soft enough because no one wants crunchy lentils. I made some super simple mashed potatoes to spread over the top and loved the ratio of lentils to mash because it’s pretty even. The potatoes get a nice crisp layer on top and it’s so yummy! Of course, I left out the peas in the lentil mixture, so I ended up adding some on top because I wanted them in it and still was delish.

Improved Lentil Shepherd’s Pie

1 cup rinsed brown/green lentils

1 3/4 c water with 1 tsp Vegetarian Better than Bouillon No beef base mixed

1.5 cup frozen mirepoix mix

10 oz baby bella mushrooms, chopped

2 tsp thyme dried

1 cup green peas

1 tsp Vegetarian Better than Bouillon No Beef Base

1/2 c water with 1 tbsp cornstarch

pepper to taste

Mashed Potato- 3 gold potatoes, 2 russet potatoes, peeled and large dice

2 tbsp Earth Balance butter

2/3 cup almond milk

salt and pepper to taste

Parsley on top

1. Preheat the oven to 425* and boil potatoes for 20 minutes until soft and set aside.
2. Add lentils and the water/bouillon mixture to a saucepan and bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes covered until liquid is absorbed.
3. Remove lentils and then add the mirepoix and mushrooms to saute for 10 minutes. Add in thyme.
4. Add lentils back to the pan with the veggies and add the water/bouillon/cornstarch mix and combine. Stir over medium until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
5. Add in green peas and stir, then add mixture to the bottom of a casserole dish, mine was a small 9×13.
6. In a mixer, mix the potatoes with vegan butter and almond milk until smooth then add salt and pepper. When they’re smooth, make small dollops of potatoes on top of the lentil mixture and then you can smooth them out to make a smooth top layer.
7. Use a fork to make pretty lines on top and bake on a sheet pan for overflow, and bake for 30 minutes. Broil for the last 5 minutes to get brown on top.
8. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.