Ask a vegetarian for his or her favourite dish and it is extremely unlikely that their answer will be a pie or pasty. These traditional British favourites are well-known by meat lovers across the globe. The famous shepherd’s pie and cottage pie contain minced mutton and minced beef respectively and pork pies, chicken pasties, steak and kidney pie etc. speak for themselves. It seems that vegetarians have been given a raw deal here compared to with other favourite dishes such as pizzas, pastas, curries and stews.
This however, need not be the case at all. The two recipes below do not use any meat substitutes, such as soya or tofu, but are purely based on vegetables. Vegans can use soya margarine instead of butter, soya cream instead of double cream and substitute the Cheddar in the first recipe with vegetarian Cheddar.
This braised vegetables with a cheddar crust recipe is a fantastic vegetarian substitute for the classic shepherd’s or cottage pie. This is the list of ingredients to serve six people:
Vegetarian Cottage Pie
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 25g butter
- 2 or 3 red onions, thinly sliced
- 1 head celery, thickly sliced
- 2 large carrots, thickly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Salt and black pepper
- 4 large open mushrooms, sliced
- 3 red peppers, deseeded and cut into strips
- 1 tsp each dried oregano and thyme
- 2 aubergines, thickly sliced
- 300ml vegetable stock
For the crust:
- 225g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 75g chilled butter, cubed
- 75g Cheddar, grated
- 2 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
- 100ml double cream
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Method:
- Heat one tablespoon of the oil with half the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic. Cook for ten minutes, stirring often. Season, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 200C / Gas mark 6. Heat another tablespoon of oil in the pan, add the mushrooms, peppers, oregano and thyme and cook for five minutes, stirring often. Season and add to the other vegetables. Heat the remaining oil and fry the aubergines for three minutes, turning once, to brown.
- Grease a pie dish or lasagne dish with the rest of the butter. Add the vegetables, pour in the stock and loosely cover with foil. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove the foil, stir and cook for a further five minutes or until tender.
- Meanwhile, make the crust. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Rub in the butter, until the texture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Mix in the Cheddar, breadcrumbs, cream, parsley and oregano and season. Increase the oven temperature to 230C / Gas mark 8. Spoon the crust mixture over the vegetables. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Set aside and rest for ten minutes before serving.
These leek and mushroom pasties are a vegetarian alternative to the famous Cornish pasty, which is made with minced beef. Even committed meat eaters will be impressed. The following ingredients serve four:
Vegetarian Leek and Mushroom Pasties
- 40g butter
- 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
- 1 tsp paprika
- 4 leeks, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 250 brown cap mushrooms, sliced
- 5 tbsp double cream
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- Lemon juice to taste
- Salt and black pepper
- 500g pack puff pastry, defrosted if frozen
- 1 small egg, beaten (vegans may use water to brush and seal the edges of the pastry)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200C / Gas mark 6. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the carrots and paprika and fry gently for five minutes or until softened. Stir in the leeks and garlic and fry for two minutes, then add the mushroom and fry for five minutes more, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are tender and any liquid has evaporated.
- Stir in the cream and soy sauce, then simmer for two minutes. Add the parsley and lemon juice and season. Cool for 30 minutes or until completely cold.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut out 4 x 20cm circles, using a saucer or a small plate as a guide. Divide the filling between the circles, then fold the pastry over carefully to form four pasties. Seal the pasty edges with a little beaten egg. Pinch with your fingers, then brush the tops with egg. Cook at the top of the oven for 25 minutes or until browned.
