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Hey everyone! Jack and I would love your feedback!
Here at A Family Feast, we’re probably best known for our family-friendly recipes that fall solidly into the “comfort food” category! We certainly love our meat and potatoes, pasta and cheeses, and decadent desserts! But every so often, we get an email or a comment from a reader asking us for healthier recipes.
I’ll be honest here… We’ve shared healthier recipes – like today’s Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie – here on A Family Feast before, but judging by the page views on our posts, and the clicks on our emails or our posts over on Facebook, and the pins over on Pinterest, these types of recipes haven’t been very popular with many of you!
And that is really kind of sad for us because delicious recipes – like today’s Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie – that can also be considered “healthier” often get overlooked.
Even if you aren’t a vegetarian or eating a special diet – you will love this Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie! It has all of the great flavors of a traditional shepherd’s pie – but we swapped in lentils for the ground beef and mashed cauliflower for the potatoes. I promise – you won’t miss the meat in this Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie!
We’d really, really like you to try this recipe! 🙂
So please tell us – would you like to see more recipes like today’s Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie in the future? Please let us know in the comments below. Thank you!
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup large diced onion
- 1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup large diced celery
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 pound lentils (one bag)
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 1 cup diced fresh garden tomatoes
- 1 quart vegetable stock
- 1 head cauliflower, cleaned and cut into floret’s (about a 2 pound head)
- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- 8 ounces fresh baby spinach
Instructions
- In a medium to large pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high and add onions, carrots, mushrooms, celery and garlic. Sauté for five minutes and add lentils. Cook for one minute.
- Add thyme and tomatoes and cook for three more minutes.
- Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat to a simmer and cook covered for 20 minutes. Do not add salt yet or lentils will be tough.
- While the lentils are cooking, place cauliflower in a medium pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until tender. Reserve ½ cup of the water in a cup and drain the remainder.
- Place drained cauliflower in the bowl of a food processor and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of pepper and garlic powder. Turn to puree and slowly add some or all of the reserved water until the cauliflower is pureed and the consistency of soft mashed potatoes.
- Place the egg yolk in a small bowl and add spoonfuls of the hot cauliflower mixture stirring after each spoonful to temper the egg yolk. Once the egg mixture is tempered, stir back into cauliflower mixture. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and pour the mixture back into pot and keep the lid on to retain the heat.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- After 20 minutes of cooking lentils, remove from heat and add peas, the remaining salt and remaining pepper.
- Pour entire mixture into a 3 quart casserole dish but reserve a small amount of lentil cooking liquid in the pan.
- Place the spinach in the pan with the liquid and cook just long enough to wilt the spinach. Pour the wilted spinach and any remaining liquid over the lentils.
- Finally spoon the mashed cauliflower over the spinach and bake uncovered for 40 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving.
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You may also like these other healthier recipes:
Quinoa Salad with Pecans, Oranges and Currants
I LOVE this Recipe! However, it’s too much liquid for casserole; I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. I make it a Vegetable Stew with the ingredients and it is Fantastic!!
Hmmm…it’s always hard to troubleshoot from a distance. I suppose you could try making it without adding in the lentil cooking liquid and/or draining the spinach which can sometimes give up a lot of liquid? But either way – we’re glad you enjoy it! Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback!
Yes! Would love more veggie entree recipes. Thank you. Love your blog.
Thank you Maria!
I think it sounds delicious and as soon as it cools off enough here in AZ it will be on our table for Meatless Mondays. Well all of it except the mushrooms, LOL.
Hope you enjoy the recipe Valerie! And yes – feel free to swap other veggies in and out if you’d like! Thanks for taking the time to write to us today!
Sounds like a fantastic ‘meatless Monday’ to me! Thanks so much.
Thanks Libby! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
tasty,tasty,tasty!i have water in my mouth!
Thanks Adriana! I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we do!