SauerHudoba Family Blend

This weekend I decided I needed some comfort food. It’s been a trying few weeks, and something warm and filling seemed just the ticket. So, Saturday and Sunday were filled with lovely things like Chili, mac and cheese and shepherd’s pie. I wanted to share the shepherd’s pie recipe with you here.

I have a mild obsession with vegetarian shepherd’s pie. This is the second version I have experimented with. I loved it. The only downside was that it took over 2 hours to prepare, but it was delectable.

I got this recipe here. And made it with some of the suggested substitutions – mostly because I detest mushrooms. My final recipe looked more like this:

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash 1/4 cup olive oil (60 ml) 2 cups bread crumbs (500 ml) 1 cup milk (250 ml) 2 eggs, beaten 1½ t dried basil 1½ t dried thyme 2 t dried parsley 6 potatoes, boiled 1/4 cup melted butter (60 ml) 1/2 cup smooth goat cheese (125 ml) 6 cups zucchini 1 medium onion, chopped 4 carrots, chopped 2 celery stalks, chopped 4 cloves garlic cloves, minced 1 can chickpeas Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 °F (150 °C). First, cut the spaghetti squash in half and remove the seeds. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 ½ hours. As an alternative, place on a plate and cook in the microwave on high for about 20 minutes. (I baked it in the oven, but that gave me time to prep all the other ingredients. It timed almost perfectly.)

In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs with the milk. Let stand for 5 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed. Mix in the eggs and herbs. Put aside.

Boil and mash the potatoes with the butter and goat cheese (you can add some milk to make them nice and smooth if necessary.) Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining oil in a large pan and sauté the onions, carrots and celery over medium heat until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and or zucchini and continue cooking until brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the chickpeas and the bread mixture. Stir and put aside.

Remove the spaghetti squash flesh with a fork. Season with salt and pepper.

Turn up the oven to 450 °F (230 °C).

In an 9x12 baking dish spoon the vegetable mixture onto the bottom. Layer with the spaghetti squash, then the potatoes and smooth them down. Cook in oven for 30 minutes or so until top is slightly browned.

I served this with a fruit salad. I can’t eat apples, pears or any other autumn tree fruit, so I make my fruit salads a bit tropical.

Mix together:

1 handful of grapes, quartered

1 Banana , halved and sliced

1 orange, chopped

1 can crushed pineapple

1 handful of shredded coconut

1 handful of slivered almonds

It’s really quite good, and made a lovely compliment to the shepherd’s pie. Add a glass of wine, and this is one comforting meal. Bon appetit!