Happy Thanksgiving, Friendly Humans!
Just in case you don’t already know, I’m Penelope Chi, the Vegan-minded, not-so-Vegan Chihuahua. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us, Dah-lings.
Mumsie and I had a fabulous Thanksgiving with lots of Family, Friends, Love & Gratitude. We made a Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie and we are sharing the recipe with you today! How thrilling.
First, we wanted to practice Gratitude with you by taking a moment to think of some things we are grateful for. Some things I am grateful for are Mumsie and how she holds my head up with her hand as I am relaxing.
What a good Human Servant. By the way, check out my Mumsie’s groovy necklace created by The Artist of Conscious Evolution, @ katelemay.com. Anywho, alright already, I’ll get on with the recipe. We love soaking our organic, non-GMO, dry beans overnight, then we cook them with a 3 inch piece of Kombu. This adds flava and helps the beans to be more easily digestible. I like beans. Then…Mise en Place, Dahling…everything in it’s place. Chop! Chop! I’ll just be watching in the background.
First, get those sweet potatoes in a pot filled with cold, salted water and bring it to a rolling boil, turn the fire on your stove down to a simmer and let those sweetie potatoes get all tender. Also, cook your soaked beans in 2 cups of unsalted water with the kombu.
Now, heat up your nice, healthy oil in a large, high sided skillet and saute’ the onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms until it reaches the tenderness you desire. Add the can of tomato paste and Pince’, which is a fancy, $50,000 word from culinary school that means to “cook off” until it starts to get brown and caramelizey. Give the paste at least 5 minutes to cook out that raw tomato & tin taste. Add your chopped, fresh rosemary, sage, thyme & garlic (but not the parsley yet) and stir that around for about a minute. Deglaze your pan with the veggie stock, add your cooked beans with some or all of the kombu cooking water, as well as the frozen peas. Use as much liquid as you wish so that your veggie and bean mixture is nice and saucy, like Me! Now you can add all of your super-fresh parsley.
Presto! The bottom part of your Shepherd’s Pie is done, so transfer this goulashy-medley of savoriness to a pretty baking dish and set aside to cool a bit while we work on the sweet potato topping.
Drain your fork tender potatoes and then return them to the hot pot they were cooked in. Using a whisk, incorporate 1 or so cups of your Fav non-dairy milk, 2 Tablespoons of not-butter, (Myoko!),
1 cup of nutritional yeast, clementine zest and some of it’s juice, if this pleases you, and whip it good. Taste for salt & pepper, thanks. Spread this yumminess atop your veggie & bean mixture and make it look all cute.
Bake it covered at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour. Meanwhile, roast those pecans in a dry pan until you start to smell them. Set them aside to cool on a plate. Uncover the pie and decorate the topping with the roasted pecan halves. Return the Sheppie into the oven for another 1/2 hour, uncovered. And, Done! Look how Festive! I want that.
Ingredients
- 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into medium chunks
- 1 cup dry cannellini beans, soaked in filtered water overnight
- 1 3 inch strip of Kombu dried seaweed
- 1 Tablespoon of Avocado or Grapeseed oil
- 1 large Vidalia onion, diced
- 3-4 carrots, unpeeled and cut up pretty
- 3-4 stalks of celery, leaves & all, cut up
- 2 large portobello mushrooms, chopped up fine, duxelles style
- 1 6-ounce can of tomato paste
- 2 Tablespoons of minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon each of fresh rosemary, sage & thyme, chopped finely
- 1-2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup of frozen peas
- 1 entire bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 cup of your favorite non-dairy milk
- 2 Tablespoons vegan butter (Shout Out to Myoko’s!)
- 2 cups roasted, whole pecan halves (whole halfs, half wholes…whatever)
- 1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 teeny-tiny, cutie clementine, zested & juiced
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
How To Make It
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Fill a medium pot with cold water and add your peeled, chunked up sweet potatoes and about 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, turn the fire down and simmer until fork tender.
- At the same time, cook your overnight soaked beans in unsalted water with the strip of Kombu.
- While these cook, heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Saute’ the onions, carrots, celery & mushrooms until tender, about 5-10 minutes (don’t forget to season with salt & pepper).
- Add the can of tomato paste and let that cook for 5 minutes until the paste coats all the vegetables and gets browned.
- Dump in the 3 Tablespoons of rosemary, sage & thyme along with the garlic. Stir and let that cook for about a minute.
- Deglaze the pan with vegetable stock, scraping any browned, glazy bits that have formed on the bottom of your pan. Turn off the fire under the pan when it all gets all hot and saucy.
- Check on your sweet potatoes and beans for doneness.
- Add the cooked beans, the frozen peas & all that parsley to the vegetables, mix and then transfer to a baking dish.
- Drain the fork tender sweet potatoes and then return them back to the hot pot they were cooking in. Using a whisk, incorporate at least 1 cup of non-dairy milk, 2 Tablespoons of not-butter, 1 cup of nutritional yeast, clementine zest & juice. Taste for seasoning and add salt & pepper. Hand whisk until nice and fluffy.
- Spread the fluffy sweet potato mixture on top of the veggie and bean mixture. Cover with parchment first and then foil. Bake covered for 1/2 hour.
- Meanwhile, roast your pecans in a dry, medium-hot pan until you can start to smell them. Place your nuts on a dish to cool.
- After a 1/2 hour, take your pie out of the oven, uncover and decorate with the roasted pecans.
- Return to the oven, uncovered and bake for about another 20-30 minutes.
I know I bess be getting some!
So, yeah, lucky me…the day after Thanksgiving, I got decorated along with the Christmas Tree. How humiliating.
Talk about a Black Friday.