mushrooms on top of sheperd pie - bottom is turnips, middle is kasha and vegetables

Ingredients for Potatoes/Turnips Layer (bottom layer)

• 4 large turnips, cooked and mashed with the garlic cloves (or 3 cups mashed potatoes)
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tsp. salt

Ingredients for Vegetables Layer (middle layer)

• 1 chopped onion
• 1 tsp. olive oil (or other vegetable oil or coconut oil)
• 1 cup cooked cauliflower (or cooked broccoli or cooked brussel sprouts, chopped into pieces)
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup diced red or green peppers (optional)
• 1/2 cup kasha, cooked
• 1 Tbsp. red wine or sherry
• 2 tsp. oregano or marjoram or thyme (and/or fresh parsley)
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for Mushrooms Layer (top layer)

• 8 oz. sliced mushrooms
• 1 Tbsp. corn starch or potato starch (original recipe said corn; I always have potato starch available from Pesach, so I used that)
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. cold water
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock (or stock from potatoes, if you used those instead of turnips)
• ground black pepper to taste

Cooking and Assembling the Shepherd Pie

Bottom Layer: Cook the turnips covered in water. Add garlic cloves. Add salt toward the end. Mash the turnips at the end.

Middle Layer: While turnips are cooking, sauté the onions in the oil for about 5 minutes. Cook the kasha until tender. If vegetables (cauliflower, brussel sprouts and/or broccoli) are not yet cooked (I used leftover vegetables), steam until tender. Mix the onions with the kasha, cauliflower, carrots, and other ingredients for the middle layer.

Preheat oven to 350°. Spread the turnips in a lightly oiled baking dish. Layer the vegetables with kasha on top. Bake uncovered for about 15 minutes.

Top Layer: combine mushrooms, wine, soy sauce, herbs and stock in a saucepan and cook until mushrooms soften and release their juices, about ten minutes. Add the corn or potato starch and let it continue to cook, stirring until it thickens. Add pepper to taste.

Put mushroom layer on top of the baked bottom two layers. Garnish with scallions or parsley if desired. You can also cut the pie into pieces and put the mushroom “gravy” on top of each one, but I generally like my guests to take if they want, so it works better to have the whole dish in the middle of the table as a choice.

This shepherd pie can be a nice accompaniment to a meat or fish meal, or it can be a main dish alone if you have a guest who is vegan. Or maybe you just found out you are lactose intolerant and crave a casserole. As Ilana-Davita remarked that my last recipe on hummus might be more suitable to a summer post, here’s a tasty dish befitting a cold January evening.

shepherd pie before the mushrooms are added on top: carrots, broccoli, onions, kasha

Conversation from yesterday:

Me: I’m going to make the corn bread again in a week or two.
Middle Son: Why?
Me: So I can post it on my blog.
Middle Son: Why can’t you post it now?
Me: Because I need to measure the amounts.
Middle Son: Can’t you just post it and let them figure out the amounts?

Fortunately, Middle Son is not in charge of posting recipe amounts to this blog.

If you would like some recipes now, I suggest you visit Batya’s newest Kosher Cooking Carnival.

Ingredients for Mock Chopped Liver

• 3/4 cup lentils
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• salt to taste
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. coriander
• optional: ginger

Cook lentils until soft (add a bit of salt while cooking). Soak walnuts for about one half hour. Sauté onions for about one half hour – the lengthy sautéing helps to caramelize the onions, bringing more flavor to the recipe (if you stop after 15 minutes, it will still taste good). Blend lentils, walnuts and onions in the food processor with spices.

The inspiration for this recipe comes from Mary’s Lentil-Walnut Spread, Lentil Walnut Pate and my friend Klara.

I added this post to Ruth’s Real Food 101.

Curried Chickpeas with Red Onion and Flat Parsley

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. organic coconut oil
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. coriander
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. black pepper or to taste
• 1 tsp. sea salt or to taste
• 2 tsp. chopped ginger root
• Optional 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• Optional: 1/2 tsp. ground cloves (I didn’t add this, but it sounds like a nice flavor)
• Optional: 2-3 chopped garlic cloves
• 1 can of chick peas (or soak dried chick peas overnight and cook before using in the recipe)
• Garnish: Parsley or cilantro
• Optional: chopped red onion
• Optional: lemon juice
• Optional: chopped tomatoes – maybe I’ll add chopped tomatoes when they are season (August) – that’s the only time I eat them

In a saucepan or a wok, warm the coconut oil and the spices. After a few minutes, add the garlic, ginger and chickpeas and coat well. Cook for about 10 minutes. The original recipe suggested crushing a few of the chickpeas. Top with parsley or coriander and optional lemon juice, chopped onions and/or chopped tomatoes. You can serve immediately or reheat the next day. Delicious on rice.

I also made the same recipe with cubed zucchini – I may post that recipe next week.

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 1/2 pint raspberries
• 1 Tbsp. oat milk or almond milk or rice milk

Put banana, raspberries and oat milk in the blender or food processor and blend. You can double or triple the recipe if you have friends visiting.

When you have finished most of your smoothie, don’t panic. Add some grape juice and seltzer, and enjoy a new version of this treat.

You can also use blackberries and/or blueberries, but then you can’t really use the photographs for Ruby Tuesday:

I was inspired by the Green Smoothie of Reluctant Vegetarian, but when I suggested the addition of kale to the smoothie, my daughter balked.

Chickens at Howell Living History Farm in Mercer County, New Jersey

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup of walnuts
• 2 zucchini, sliced lengthwise
• 1 onion, quartered
• 3 tsp. olive oil (experiment with amounts of oil – add a little at a time – you may need less)
• Sea salt to taste
• 2 hard boiled eggs

Bake the zucchinis and the onion in a stoneware dish in the oven for about 1 hour. You can do this the day before, or anytime you are baking other items in the oven. Take the baked vegetables out of the oven to cool. Chop the walnuts in the food processor. Add all the other ingredients except the hard-boiled eggs. You can see what this dish would be like without the eggs, in case you would prefer to have an eggless version of vegetarian chopped liver. I found it too watery, but when I added the hard-boiled eggs, oh, my, it obtained the creaminess of chopped liver. Also, the next day in the refrigerator it turns browner, so it looks more like chopped liver, too.

Alternative: use grilled zucchini and onions (I don’t have a pareve grill)

Have you made mock chopped liver? Any suggestions?

See also: Vegan chopped liver spread with lentils, walnuts and onions

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup millet
• 1 cup water or broth
• 1 zucchini
• 1 large carrot or a handful of baby carrots
• 1 lemon
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• salt to taste
• 1 garlic clove (optional)
• parsley or cilantro (optional)

Cook the millet in water or broth. While the millet is cooking, grate the zucchini and carrots in the food processor. When the millet has been cooking for at least 15 minutes, add salt and olive oil. Then add grated zucchini, grated carrots, lemon juice, lemon zest (optional – the peel of the lemon, grated) and crushed garlic (optional). Continue cooking for about 30 minutes or until millet is tender. Toward the end of the 30 minutes, stir often and do not leave the kitchen. Too easy to burn this pilaf at this point. Turn off the flame and stir in optional fresh herbs. Let it sit for an additional 10- 12 minutes before serving or refrigerating. Serve warm or room temperature.

Shiitake Mushroom Soup with Clear Broth in a Red-Trimmed Bowl

Ingredients

• 8 oz. shiitake mushrooms
• 8 oz. baby bell mushrooms
• 1 leek
• 1 zucchini (or substitute other greens, such as bits of kale or collards)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. mirin (rice wine – or substitute 1 tsp. dry wine)
• 1 tsp. miso
• chopped scallions
• 1 tsp. sea salt

How to Make the Soup

Saute the chopped onion in a bit of olive oil. Slit the leek in half; wash out any particles inside the leek. Cut in half and put in with the onion. Chop the zucchini and put it in with the onion. Add chopped mushrooms. Cover with water and add at least 1 cup more water. Cook until all is tender. Add sea salt and wine. Add miso at the end. Sprinkle with scallions and serve.

Proof My Daughter Liked the Soup:

For more photos with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:

• More soup recipes

Fall Leaves at East Jersey Olde Town, Piscataway, New Jersey

On My Blog

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

Long ago, Jacob prepared some lentils for his brother Esau. “And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils” – Genesis 25:34. So here are some lentil recipes:

• Ilana-Davita: Lentil Stew
• Leora: Lentil Soup and Lentil Salad
• Mimi: Majadra: Lentils and Rice
• Cooking Manager: Lentils with Onions and Garlic
• Meg: Spiced Lentils with Squash and Raisins
• Christina: Stuffed Lentils

Soups on My Blog (pareve, vegan)

• Mushroom Barley Soup
• Shiitake Mushroom Soup
• Turmeric Soup
• Farmer’s Market Soup
• Lentil Soup
• Minestrone Soup

Soups from Some of My Favorite Bloggers

• Ilana-Davita: Hearty Soup
• Ilana-Davita: Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup
• Imabima: Squash Mushroom Soup (I suggest using olive oil instead of margarine, for health reasons)
• Mimi: Vegetable Stock (pareve) and Potato Leek (dairy)
• Mrs. S.: Potato Soup
• Shimshonit: Split Pea Soup
• Batya: Easy, One-Pot Vegetable Soup
• Abbi: Cauliflower and Mushroom Bisque
• Rivster: Pea, Leek and Broccoli Soup

Macrobiotic Soups

• Meg: Simple Cannellini Bean Soup
• Meg: Miso Soup
• Carol: Creamy Beet Soup
• Carol: Minestrone Soup

Fish and Poultry Soups

In this fish and chicken soup category are my children’s favorite, my chicken soup, and my own favorite, Mimi’s Fish Soup:

• Mimi: Fish Soup for Winter Dinners
• Mimi: Turkey Stock
• Leora: Chicken Soup

I believe soup is one of the healthiest foods one can eat. And it is yummy, too!

As Lewis Carroll wrote:

Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Soo–oop of the e–e–evening,
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!

Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish,
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else for two
Pennyworth only of Beautiful Soup?
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?

Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Soo–oop of the e–e–evening,
Beautiful, beauti–FUL SOUP!

– Lewis Carroll

According to this article, that poem was a parody of a poem called “Star of the Evening.” More of Lewis Carroll’s funny poetry on this page.