Wild Mushroom and Lentil Shepherd’s Pie
There are so many reasons to make this for a cold-weather gathering. For one, the caramelized onions and sherry-and-butter-laced mushrooms will make your kitchen smell divine. For two, it’s hearty and filling—perfect for hungry winter bellies. It’s also easy to share family-style, but without being a boring lasagne or pasta bake. And, it meets requirements for your vegetarian and gluten-free friends. And, it pairs remarkably well with the winter wines that everyone wants to drink this time of year. I could go on, but, the main benefit is that you can make the whole thing in advance and fire it up under the broiler for ten minutes when you’re ready to rock. Easy as, well, you know.
Winter dinner party, here you come.
OK, listen: I’m not going to lie to you. This thing takes a full two hours to prepare, and it involves a fair amount of dishes, too. But even though it’s time-consuming, it’s very simple and straightforward. Plus, building flavor takes time, and with vegetarian food, building flavor is especially important.
The good news is, there are two ways to do it: You can cook almost every element of the dish in advance, over a period of several hours or days. Or you can do it all in two hours, with a kind of carousel approach, where you’re finishing one element as you’re starting another, then finishing that and starting another, and so on. The key is this: the four main elements of the dish are fully separate—lentils, mashed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, and caramelized onions. When you think of them that way, it’s easier to chart your course: you can make the mashed potatoes on Tuesday and the lentils on Wednesday, and then finish the rest of the dish on Sunday—or you can do it all in a morning before work, with three burners going at once. Either way, it can be sitting in the fridge or on the countertop fully composed until you’re ready to eat. When that time comes, just toss it under the broiler for ten minutes. Bingo, bango, bongo.
Time: 2 hr
Active Time: 90 minutes
Serves: Six people
Drink: Cabernet Franc, or another earthy, medium-bodied red.
Start with the lentils.
1. Cook vegetables
Heat a dollop of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrot, shallot, garlic, and rosemary, and cook until the carrot is just tender.
2. Add lentils and stock; cook
Add lentils and stir to coat. Add stock. Let the mixture come to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer with the lid on until the lentils are tender, about 25 minutes. (Check the doneness at 15 minutes. If they’re still not done but all the liquid has dried up, just add stock or water and keep on cooking.)
While the lentils cook, make mashed potatoes.
3. Boil potatoes
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Chop up your potatoes into quarters, and place them in the water. Cook until fork-tender. Drain, and return to the pot.
4. Add buttermilk and butter
Add buttermilk and two tablespoons of butter, and mash/stir with a wooden spoon. I like mine rustic and chunky, but if you prefer smooth and silky, use a ricer or blitz them in a food processor.
Set potatoes aside.
While the potatoes cook, make the mushrooms and onions.
5. Make mushroom magic
Melt two tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Toss in all the mushrooms, thyme, and some salt and pepper, and let them cook down until all the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are nicely browned.
Discard the thyme sprigs and transfer to a plate to cool.
6. Caramelize those onions
In the same skillet, add your finely-sliced onions and another tablespoon of butter. Cook them down until they’re soft and translucent, stirring and deglazing with sherry vinegar and white wine in alternating doses. They’re ready when they’re soft and brown, at least 20 minutes.
Put it all together
7. Add mushrooms and onions to lentils
Toss the mushrooms and the onions into the lentils and stir. Add a half a cup of Parmesan and stir again. Season to taste.
8. Put lentils into a casserole; top with mashed potatoes
Put the whole mixture into a medium-sized casserole. Layer mashed potatoes on the top, however thick you want. (I love lots of taters—about a half inch to an inch is good.)
9. Sprinkle some Parmesan over the top
About 1/2 cup will do.
Note: You can stop here and put the whole thing in the fridge, covered with foil, and finish it later.
Finish in the broiler
10. Broil for 10 minutes
Turn the broiler on high and roast until the top is brown and bubbly. If you had it in the fridge for a long time, you may need to go a little longer—just cover the cheese with tin foil if it gets too brown too quickly.
Hold in a warm oven until you’re ready to eat. It makes great leftovers, too—just reheat in a 350-degree oven.
Um, excuse me?
Will red lentils work?
Sadly, I think red lentils will be too soft and could look weird. Brown or green feel more natural with the mushrooms and caramelized onions and will have a nice toothsome bite.
Can I make this vegetarian?
Definitely! Just use veg stock instead of chicken stock.
What about vegan?
That’s a little tougher because the Parmesan does so much heavy lifting. You can easily replace the chicken stock with veg stock, cook your mushrooms in olive oil, and make your mashed potatoes with vegan butter and no cream. (Since the mashed potatoes are essentially their own separate prep, you can just find whatever vegan mashed potato recipe looks good and sub it out here.) But I’m not sure how to replace the Parmesan. Here’s a recipe from Minimalist Baker, Dylan’s go-to for vegan replacements, that we have not tried. Vegan friends, please espouse your wisdom in the comments!
I don’t have a shallot, can I use an onion?
Yes, always.
Do the potatoes have to be Yukon golds?
No, I just like Yukon gold mashed potatoes better than any other kind. Again, the mashed potato recipe is essentially separate here, so use whatever mashed potatoes you like and sub it out. Easy.
I don’t know how to caramelize onions.
Oooh, it’s so fun to learn! Full caramelization actually takes a long time, and if you have time, go for it! But here, we’re looking for flavor and color, so we use vinegar to help speed things along. All you do is toss some onions in a pan with butter or oil, then go low and slow and essentially let them stick to the pan before you toss a splash of vinegar or wine into the pot. Scrape up all the burny goodies and keep going. Repeat several times until you have a brown stringy mush that smells like heaven. With this quick method, one small onion takes about 20 minutes to fully caramelize, but with a dish like this you can do less or more—it’s very forgiving. And when you’re ready to get serious about caramelized onions, try our French Onion Soup.
Does this work for leftovers?
100%. I often make it for two and then eat it for lunch and dinner several times over a week or so.
