Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

In a conscious effort to eat less meat, I’m on a quest to find flavoursome vegetarian dishes. This is hard for me, as I’m pretty much the “if there’s no meat, it ain’t no food” type. I’ve already posted a few meatless risotto dishes (though, yes, they do contain chicken stock… sigh) that I can survive on and this Shepherd’s Pie can be added to the list. “Shepherd’s Pie without meat!?” I hear you shriek. Yes, gentle reader, I’m just as appalled. And to add insult to injury, it also contains that dreaded thing, the bane of every man’s appetite, the Chickpea. It’s sheer horror to contemplate, but bear with. I promise it’ll be alright in the end. We’ll make it through, gentle reader. Together.

Chop up a red onion, neither roughly nor finely, and soften it in some olive oil and butter for about ten minutes. Add two finely chopped garlic cloves, a chopped red chili and two teaspoons of ras el hanout. Fry for a minute or so, then add a tin of (drained) chickpeas (be brave!) and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Add 150 mls of stock (I want to say chicken, but I leave that up to you and your fierce inner strength) and a tablespoon of sugar. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about fifteen minutes. Stir regularly.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 degrees and slice up some nice potatoes. Leave the skins on and parboil, drain and leave to blow off some steam for a while. When the chickpeas are tender, add a bag of baby spinach leaves and stir to help them wilt.

Ladle the chickpea mixture into two oven dishes and place a few potato slices on top. Grate over some Parmesan and add another layer of potatoes. Top with a handful of grated cheese (the kind that turns nice and golden and crispy) and into the oven they go. Give them about fifteen minutes before diving in.

Keeping the potatoes sliced instead of mashing them adds a really nice hearty texture to the dish and the amount of spice and heat means that even the dreaded chickpeas turn out okay. Well more than okay, if you’d believe it. This dish is an absolute revelation and you won’t miss the meat at all. Just please don’t use the term “veggie”… Ugh, there goes my appetite.