Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
An irresistible vegetarian main study course can get a tiny more appreciate and time, but food items editor Melissa Roberts would be the to start with particular person to notify you it’s value it. Fortunately, all the parts of this shepherd’s pie—from the heady vegetable stew with its purple wine gravy to the crown of fluffy mashed potatoes and celery root—can be manufactured forward. Protein-wealthy seitan (pronounced “SAY-tan,” it is from time to time labeled “wheat gluten”) has long been made use of as a meat substitute by Asian cooks, who know how to coax the most out of its satisfyingly chewy texture. Seitan isn’t going to have a sturdy flavor of its individual, but it soaks up the flavors of whichever it truly is cooked with.
Ingredients:
- 10 ounces pearl onions (about 2 1/four cups)
- 9 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- one one/2 lbs . seitan, sliced 1/four inch thick and patted dry
- 3 medium leeks (white and pale green pieces only), halved lengthwise, sliced one/2 inch thick, and washed
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- one pound cremini mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
- three/4 pound carrots (about 4 medium), minimize into 3/4-inch-thick parts
- 3/four pound parsnips (about four medium), lower into 3/four-inch-thick parts
- 2 tablespoons thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
- one (750-ml) bottle total-bodied pink wine this sort of as Burgundy or Côtes du Rhône
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- three tablespoons all-reason flour
- three 1/2 cups incredibly hot rich vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 2 1/two lbs . Yukon Gold potatoes
- three/4 pound celery root, peeled and slice into one-inch parts
- one/two adhere unsalted butter
- one/two cup complete milk
- one/two cup hefty product
- Machines: a 3-quart shallow (two-inch-deep) flameproof baking dish a potato ricer or a food mill equipped with medium disk
Directions:
- Blanch pearl onions in a two-quart saucepan of boiling drinking water 2 minutes, then drain and cool in an ice tub to halt cooking. Peel onions and trim, leaving root finishes intact.
- Heat two tablespoons oil in a 5-quart heavy pot more than medium-significant heat right until it shimmers. Brown seitan in 3 batches, turning sometimes, 3 to five minutes (include two tablespoons oil in between batches). Transfer to a plate.
- Prepare dinner leeks in remaining 3 tablespoons oil with 1/four teaspoon salt in pot more than medium heat, included, stirring often, until softened, about six minutes. Include garlic and cook, stirring often, till golden and aromatic, about 2 minutes.
- Include mushrooms and one/two teaspoon salt and cook dinner, protected, stirring sometimes, right up until they just get started to give off liquid, about 5 minutes. Add carrots, parsnips, thyme, and rosemary and cook dinner, lined, stirring sometimes, right up until veggies are just tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer veggies to a bowl.
- Include wine to pot and boil until eventually lowered to about one cup, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Although wine lessens, make a beurre manié by stirring together butter and flour in a modest bowl to type a paste.
- Add inventory to wine and bring to a brisk simmer. Whisk in beurre manié, then simmer, whisking sometimes, until thickened a little bit, 3 to 5 minutes. Include seitan, pearl onions, and vegetable combination to pot and simmer, covered, 30 minutes.
- Eliminate from warmth and stir in parsley.
- Peel potatoes and lower into two-inch pieces. Include potatoes and celery root with chilly drinking water in a 4-to five-quart large pot, then simmer, partly included, until incredibly tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Reserve one/two cup cooking water, then drain in a colander.
- Deliver butter, milk, and cream to a simmer in pot over medium warmth, stirring right until butter has melted. Stir in reserved cooking drinking water, one teaspoon salt, and one/2 teaspoon pepper. Get rid of from warmth. Force potatoes and celery root by means of ricer into incredibly hot milk combination and stir gently to incorporate.
- Preheat broiler. Place baking dish in a big four-sided sheet pan and transfer stew to dish.
- Spoon potato mixture around stew and distribute evenly to cover. Broil about three inches from warmth until finally major is golden, about five minutes.