Mushroom and lentil shepherd's pie recipe
Dried mushrooms, mushroom stock and Marmite, which are all rammed with umami flavours, bring that meaty equilibrium back to the dish. You can use meat stock if you’re not veggie or vegan but vegetable stock is still super. This intensely flavourful stew is balanced really well by the root vegetable mash.
This recipe is from Slow by Gizzi Erskine, published by HQ, £25. Photography © Issy Croker.
Ingredients
- 30 g dried porcini mushrooms plus 300ml (10 floz) boiling water
- 3 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 5 field mushrooms and 4 shiitake mushrooms, pulsed in a food processor until as finely ground as mince
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 3 small carrots, finely chopped
- 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
- 2 leeks, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tsp tomato purée
- 300 ml red wine
- 100 ml port (optional)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 350 g dried puy lentils
- 750 ml fresh vegetable stock (or chicken or beef if you're not vegetarian)
- 1 tsp Marmite
- 0.5 small celeriac, cut into small cubes
- 1 parsnip, cut into small cubes
- 2 medium carrots, cut into small cubes
- 1 medium swede, cut into small cubes
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp milk or cream
- 1 grating of nutmeg
- 35 g cheddar
- 35 g parmesan
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Pie
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 25 mins
- Cooking Time: 85 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- First, place the dried porcini mushrooms in a bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Set aside for at least 20 minutes to rehydrate.
- Next, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a deep casserole on the hob over a high heat.
- Add the ground fresh mushrooms and fry for about 5 minutes or until the water that seeps out has evaporated and they’re browned. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.
- Add some more oil and then fry the onions, carrots, celery and leeks and cook slowly for 10 minutes or until they have softened and started to go golden.
- Add the garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes.
- Add the tomato purée and ramp up the heat. Caramelise the vegetables in the purée for about 1–2 minutes.
- Add the lentils, red wine and port (if using) and cook for 5 minutes before adding the fried mushrooms back in with the bay leaf and sprig of rosemary as well as a small pinch of ground cloves.
- Remove the porcini mushrooms from the soaking water and finely chop them. Add these, along with the water you rehydrated them in (sieve the water or discard any sediment at the bottom), the lentils, the stock and the Marmite.
- Cook over a low heat for 1 hour or until the sauce has reduced and the lentils are cooked and plumped up. Season, place in a pie dish and allow to cool, overnight if you can.
- Heat the oven to 200˚C/390˚F/gas mark 6.
- To make the mash, pop all the root vegetables into a pan of cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 20 minutes or until completely cooked through.
- Drain, and then allow the vegetables to steam in the colander for 5 minutes. Mash with a potato masher or ricer. Add the butter, milk, nutmeg and seasoning.
- Pick out any stray herbs from the lentil mixture then top with the root veg mash. Top with the cheeses and bake for 25 minutes or until golden and piping hot.
This recipe is from Slow by Gizzi Erskine, published by HQ, £25. Photography © Issy Croker.
Gizzi Erskine portrait: Eeva Rinne
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