I served it with that awesome Winter White Salad (which I've mentioned a hundred times on this blog!! Make it!!), but made less white by adding parsley leaves and pomegranate seeds.
I highly recommend baking and pureeing your sweet potatoes in advance, just to simplify your dinner preparation if you're making this on a weeknight. Once that's done, it's a simple boil and sauté operation before throwing it in the oven for a brief stint.
Too bad it photographs so poorly! Don't judge this book by its cover please!
Lentil and Mushroom Shepherd's Pie, from The Kitchn
Serves 6
3 large sweet potatoes, baked and pureed
1 cup brown lentils
3/4 cup dry steel cut oats
bay leaves (3 or 4)
1 teaspoon salt
2 packages (8 oz each) mushrooms (I used one button, one crimini), sliced
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup red wine
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
2 tsp smoked paprika
handful chopped parsley
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a pot, boil 5 cups of water with your lentils, oats, bay leaves, and salt.
In a separate skillet, sauté mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic in olive oil until softened. Season with salt and pepper.
Drain lentils/oats and combine with sautéed vegetable mixture. Add stock, wine, tomato paste, tamari, paprika, and parsley. Simmer for 5 minutes to marry all flavors. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Pour mixture into casserole dish and spread sweet potatoes on top. Bake until hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes.
