The song: “Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran (and covered by Hole; lyrics)

The foodstuff: Shepherd’s Pie from Cooking Vegan

The connection: This hearty dish will satisfy carnists of all shapes and sizes. Not to mention the vegans in the house!

Shepherd’s Pie and “Hungry Like the Wolf” – because both prey on gentler creatures such as sheep. But the joke’s on them, because this “pie” is vegan, yo!

For obvious vegan feminist reasons (supposedly “shepherdess pie” is slang for meatless shepherd’s pie), I was tempted to make Veganomicon’s Tempeh Shepherdess Pie – but ultimately opted for the Shepherd’s Pie from Cooking Vegan instead. (Maybe I didn’t have any tempeh on hand? Can’t remember!)

More like a casserole than a pie –

I was expecting it all to be enclosed in a crust, a la Amy’s brand Shepherd’s Pie; cue: sad Kelly when I realized otherwise

- this dish features a layer of vegan ground round mixed with celery, onions, garlic, soy sauce, and worcestershire sauce (vegan, natch!), layered with frozen corn and mashed potatoes.

It was fairly easy to make, minus the mashed potatoes: the husband stepped in as my pinch hitter here, because me and mashed potatoes always end with starchy potato chunks decorating the kitchen and a forlorn woman who vaguely resembles me, cowering and crying in the corner. Pro tip: sub in your own favorite mashed potato recipe, or add some extra seasonings – garlic, maybe, or margarine – ’cause the mashed potato layer in CV’s Shepherd’s Pie is kind of bland. The strong (and not unpleasant) taste of the ground round mix offsets this a bit – but only goes so far.

I couldn’t find any vegan ground round in my rural MO grocery stores, so I just defrosted six large Sam’s Club-sized Boca Burgers on the countertop and then fried and mashed them until they resembled ground round. I also switched out the celery for carrots because CELERY EWWWWW! Otherwise I think I followed the recipe more or less faithfully.

The bake time is pretty flexible, and this is the kind of meal you can make a day in advance and store in the fridge until it’s needed.

I meant to serve it with some warm, buttery (margariney?) dinner rolls, but forgot to thaw them in advance. No matter! This pie has more than enough carbs for everyone, not to mention veggies, protein, and a bit of fat. All your foods on one plate. Hearty, filling, and tasty. Just toss a brownie on top and call it a night!

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Filed under carnivals, cooking vegan, duran duran, eat to the beat, hole, music, vegan food, veganmofo, videos

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