Meatfree Monday - Vegetarian Shepherds Pie

My friend Ann introduced me to the original recipe for Vegetarian Shephers Pie from allrecipes.com a month or so ago.  I am finding myself a bit meated out today, so this will do just the trick.  Additionally, it will use up the left over mashed potatoes from yesterdays dinner and some other potatoes I made a few weeks ago and froze.  And it fits the bill of using up stuff in my pantry and freezer.

I did modify the recipe in accordance with my taste preferences and pantry items on-hand.  I have included a link to the original recipe in case you are interested.  I can't imagine walnuts in a Shepherds Pie so I substituted soy ground protein and I added some other ingredients to enhance the flavour to suit our tastes.  If I had them on hand, I probably would have tossed in a chopped tomato also.  Sadly everything is closed today in Toronto, as it is a holiday, so we had to make do with what we had.

Vegetarian Shepherds Pie

Ingredients:

3.5 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup dry lentils
1/4 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup TVP or ground soy protein (we buy Sunfield brand soy protein at MEC)
1-2 tsp curry powder (optional)

1 or two sprig fresh thyme (thanks Kerryn for bringing the lemon thyme from your garden yesterday)

1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped or half an onion, peeled and chopped or 2 tbsp. onion flakes
1/4 c low fat sour cream
2-3 cups leftover mashed potatoes (or 3 potatoes to chop, cook and mash as you like them)

1 large carrot, diced (I had cooked ones left from Thanksgiving)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, combine broth with TVP or soy ground protein,  lentils and barley. Simmer until tender, for 30-40 minutes.  When ready, remove from heat and stir in sour cream and carrots.  Remove thyme sprig lest anyone eating get a twig in their dinner.  
3. If making the potatoes from scratch, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil while the filling is cooking,. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15-20 minutes. Drain and mash. 
4. Pour mixture into a 2 quart casserole dish and then spoon mashed potatoes over lentil mixture.
5. Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned on top, about 30 minutes.  If you want the topping brown and crispy, melt a little butter and brush over top with a pastry brush.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/vegetarian-shepherds-pie-ii/Detail.aspx