Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

The other week at work, I received a major blow. Whilst pouring myself a glass of Innocent smoothie in the communal kitchen, a man from another office walked up behind me and uttered the crushing line: “Excuse me, are you the cleaner?”

Now, as people always write when mistaken for someone in a job supposedly less prestigious than their own, I have nothing against cleaners. Other than the fact that after university when I applied to clean tables at lunchtime in a primary school, I was rejected. Nothing personal there though, as I was also rejected from McDonalds, Subway and Pizza Hut and consequently ended up “selling” gas and electricity for an anonymous energy supplier.

Where was I? Ah yes, in the kitchen at work. To paint a clearer picture, I was wearing an ex-boyfriend’s oversized Ben Sherman jumper, some trousers that I originally bought for my work experience at age 15 which are all frayed at the bottom hems and some chequered Vans slip-ons.

So, bitterly, I took the erroneous remark by the horns and gave myself a proverbial kick up the arse. Off I marched to Westfield to splurge on some office wear. I mean, I do TRY to dress professionally but it’s just not in my nature. I have the wrong body for pencil skirts and I just can’t walk in heels unless I’m battered, which sort of rules them out as work wear.

The only good thing about Westfield is that they have one of those pretzel stalls that continuously give out free samples of warm, sugary, cinnamony doughnuty things. After a few laps of the pretzel place, with different facial expressions each time in an attempt to disguise myself and not look like I was just one greedy person substituting supper with free samples, I made my way into Primark. Yeah, I know it’s rubbish quality and crap fitting, yadda yaddaa, I don’t care I just wanted some cheap shirts.

It seems as if I’m not the only one having an image overhaul; so are the government! At least they’re encouraging all of us to have an overhaul anyway. Change 4 Life is brought to us by the NHS and it aims to get people to eat less junk and more vegetables. My mum emailed this recipe to me the other week and suggested that I try it, so I did.

The thing is with all Quorn based products is that you can tell that it’s not meat. It doesn’t have the flavour or the aroma or the consistency. To enjoy this one, you need to be one of the following:

a) a vegetarian/vegan (I think this is vegan friendly but correct me if I am wrong);

b) a person who wants to cut down on their meat/is open to veggie stuff; or

c) an omnivore with a really bad cold rendering their taste buds inadequate.

However, two positive points to note about the meal are as follows:

1) There isn’t much washing up. As a person without access to a dishwasher, the amount of dirty dishes a meal produces is always a good “shall I bother cooking this” barometer; and

2) I discovered that I quite like the smell of singed oven glove (caught it on the grill, twice). It’s a bit like bonfire toffee, which I love.

Ingredients

2 carrots, chopped

300g swede, chopped

600g potatoes, cut into small cubes

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped (I used 2)

I spontaneously added 1 red pepper

300g vegetarian mince

300ml reduced salt vegetable stock

1 courgette, grated

100g frozen mixed vegetables or frozen peas

Ground black pepper

1 tsp cornflour (I used plain flour)

1. Cook the carrots, swede and potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling water until tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add the vegetarian mince (at this point I added my plain flour) and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and add the courgette and frozen mixed vegetables or peas. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes. Season with black pepper.

3. Preheat the grill, warming a baking dish underneath for a few moments. Meanwhile, drain and mash the carrots, swede and potatoes, seasoning with black pepper.

4. Blend the cornflour with 1 tbsp cold water and add it to the mince mixture, stirring until thickened (didn't bother with this bit, due to the plain flour escapade but i think it would make a nicer gravy, which was slightly lacking in mine). Transfer it to the baking dish and spoon the vegetable mash on top. Grill for about 5 minutes, until browned. Serve.

Tweet Pin It Now!