Vegan Cottage Pie ~ A Shepherd’s Pie Without A Shepherd

One of my favorite cold weather dishes is shepherd’s pie, has been ever since I discovered this bit of deliciousness thanks to a friend who had a fetish for all things English. My very first pie was made with lamb, onions and peas and it was incredible. Since then I’ve made it with pretty much every variation you can think of from, including all of your average proteins and sure, some not so normal ones.

Then I went vegan and since then I have experimented with every mushroom I had access to in Germany and now Romania in an effort to keep my taste buds interested. My favorite is portobello mushrooms because they are gigantic and satisfying as hell but I also like crimini and even white button, oyster and chanterelle mushrooms. They are a perfectly suitable and delicious meat replacement in a cottage pie or as I informed my father in law, a meatless meat pie.

For this shepherd’s pie, I decided to do a blend of chanterelle mushrooms and tofu crumbles because my husband and I are working very hard to get his parents to improve their diets and the tofu crumbles look enough like ground beef to trick their carnivorous brains into thinking it’s meat. I also added onions, garlic, carrots and peas with tomato paste and vegan Worcestershire, which is pretty damn hard to find so if anyone has a preferred brand, drop the brand or link in the comments section.

I started with the mushrooms first because they take awhile to cook and because I like to get them a bit crispy around the edges by heating them in a non-stick pan with no oil. You know how I feel about it, but if you want/need/gotta have oil, then do your thing. Just know that my chanterelle mushrooms are wickedly crispy!

And the other perfect thing about cottage pie? Mashed potatoes. My potato love is well documented and anytime I get to have mashed potatoes is a good time for me. These particular potatoes included plant butter, sea salt, fresh black pepper and fresh parsley because that’s my favorite way to have them and because I didn’t want to go too ‘exotic’ because this was the first time the in-laws have had this dish.

I used the large 9×13 casserole dish because I’m used to cooking for two people with maybe one extra serving left over for us to split. Not because we’re constant dieters but because both of us are more aware of what we eat and how much, so I make sure to never make that much food for us because, look at the cottage pie, we will eat it just because it’s yummy and we can.

I was so proud of myself with this particular shepherd’s pie because it finally came out like a friggin’ Shepherd’s Pie!! Usually I make too much sauce for the veggie mixture and it never quite comes out like this. One time I made it so dry that basically crumbled when my hubs, Cos, served it up. He’s much better at that part than I am so when he was able to get it out in one piece like this, I cheered.

I literally cheered, y’all.

Of course we enjoyed it with a shot (or two) of Tuica, you know, just in case we didn’t warm up enough from the cottage pie!