Shepherd's Pie Recipe and Discussion Group

Hi friends,

Here is Adrick's recipe for the Shepherd's Pie that we all enjoyed at Community Eats today. Also, below is an announcement about a discussion group that some friends of Community Eats are holding at Sprouts on Monday.

Have a good weekend,

Heather and CE

1. Vegan Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Mashed Potatoes:

four large potatoes
three medium sized yams
knob of butter (or) tbsp olive oil
splash of soy milk
salt and pepper

Cut yams/potato into chunks, boil until soft, adding the yams a little bit later than the potatoes, as they cook faster. Drain. Mash with oil/butter and soy milk, add salt and pepper to taste. Spread half of mash on a pie plate or deep dish baking pan. Reserve second half for the crust.

Filling:

2 cups dry lentils, cooked
tomato, uncooked

Garlic
Onion
Pepper (any colour, maybe not green)
Eggplant
Zucchini
Mushroom
Oil

Spread cooked lentils on the mashed potato base, toss in diced fresh tomato.

Spread the diced vegetables on a baking sheet. Toss with oil, salt, pepper, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. Bake 20 minutes at 350F, until crispy and soft on the inside.

Spread the roasted veg on top of the lentil/tomato layer. Press down with a spatula. Add the remaining mash, spread on top as a sandwich layer. Bake at 350F for 40 - 50 minutes, until the filling is heated through and the crust is golden!

Enjoy with wine, beer, cider and good company on a winter's eve!

2. The Pleasure in Eating Discussion Group

Come share your thoughts and ideas about what it means to "eat with pleasure" in a discussion group facilitated by two fellow UBC students.

In a safe and comfortable environment, we will be exploring how to rediscover food's purpose in our lives amidst the confusing messages we often encounter in our society.

When: Monday, March 16th, 5:30-7:00pm
Where: Sprouts (SUB basement, room 66)

Light snack and tea to follow.

Spots are limited. Please RSVP by Friday, March 13th to:
thepleasureineating@gmail.com

We hope to see you there!

Recipe for Winter Eggplant Dahl

Adrick has shared his recipe for the meal that we all enjoyed today - an eggplant dahl.

Ingedients:
2 onions, diced
3 medium tomateos, diced
1 large eggplant, chopped
2 cups dry lentils, pre-cooked
4 potatoes, cubed and par-boiled
oil
spices (cumin, curry, cardamom, ginger, chili, paprika, pepper and salt.

How:
Start with oil - add cumin, ginger and chili until oil heats up and becomes aromatic.
Add onions - cook until translucent. Add tomato and remaining spices, cook until it becomes like a paste. Add eggplant, cook until softened/browned. Add pre-cooked lentils and potatoes, simmer until tender and perfect (add extra spice/salt if needed).

Enjoy!

Recipe: Roasted Spiced Potatoes & Garbanzos

So, here's how we made our roasted potatoes and garbanzos. This meal stands alone as it's a complete protein, however, most would find it unsatisfying without something more substantial (like our Lentil Eggplant Curry!) or at least a salad. Nevertheless this dish can be put together easily as a perfect side dish, a quick lunch for someone with a smaller appetite, and the leftover can be turned into another creative meal. Imagine all the spices you could drizzle or sprinkle on them and all the different kinds of vegetables that can be used according to season.

Last but not least, nothing is better than simple yet flavorful, aromatic, and luxurious roasted vegetables that are both pretty in presentation and extremely delicious.

Roasted Spiced Potatoes & Garbanzos

Ingredients
3- 4 potatoes (diced, par-boiled)
1 turnip (diced, par-boiled)
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzos (or) one can chickpeas
olive oil
salt
pepper
ginger
cayenne
cumin

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 C
2. Par-boil potatoes and turnips (otherwise they will not cook soft until after the chickpeas have burnt!). On a big sheet pan, mix diced peppers, potatoes, turnip, and garbanzos with your hands. Douse with oil, enough to lather everything lightly.
   
3. Add spice and salt at your own discretion. Bake for 20 minutes, or until everything is golden brown and the peppers are soft. Be cautious of baking for too long as the chickpeas will dry out!

Ta-da!! Bon appetit!

Recipe: Lentil Eggplant Curry

Here is the recipe of the Lentil Eggplant Curry we made for CE dinner on Sept. 27'2008.

This curry, served with rice, pita, and other grains, makes for a wonderfully filling and nutritious meal. It was a great feeling of excitement (or accomplishment) when the dish turned out so delicious. Better yet it is fun to prepare this dish, and easy too.

* a disclaimer: because these recipes are made for two hundred people these measurements are estimations and loose suggestions only (sorry!)

Ingredients
2 to 3 tbsp oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large red onion
3-4 tomatoes
2 potatoes (diced and par-boiled)
1 turnip (diced and par-boiled with potato)
1 cup cauliflower (diced)
1 large eggplant
3 cups whole red lentils (precooked)
3 cups water (maybe more)
salt
spices

Steps

1. Start with oil in a big saucepan, cook it up hot, add your cumin seeds or powder, cook for a few minutes until you can smell the aromas (we also added standard "curry" powder).
   
2. Add the diced onion into the oil and cook until translucent, adding garlic a few minutes after the onion (as it burns if too hot).
   
3. Add the diced tomato and bring the heat up. Add ginger spice, turmeric, and chili flakes, along with the first dose of salt (you are creating your curry paste base).
   
4. Add the par-boiled potatoes and turnip, the cauliflower and eggplant. Cook for four - five minutes so the veg absorbs all those good juices.
   
5. After this, add the precooked lentils with the extra water and consider adding a little extra water. (It works like this: split red lentils DO NOT need to be precooked, and can be cooked in the curry with a little more water and a few more minutes on the stovetop.)
   
6. Let all this cook away -- the longer you cook it (on LOW) the more mature the taste.
   
7. Add more salt, maybe additional cumin or chili flakes. You want the lentils and the eggplant very soft and brown!

Enjoy!

Recipe from February 29th Lunch

Our February 29th lunch was another success. Thanks so much to all the volunteers who came to help us out, we hope to see you again! Here is a recipe for what we cooked up...

Roasted Veggies with Adzuki Beans and Rice

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1 red bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper, 1/2 acorn squash, 1 large carrot, 4Tbsp cumin, 4Tbsp coriander, 3Tbsp Hungarian (hot) paprika, 2Tbsp cracked black pepper, 1c Adzuki beans**, 3c water, 1tsp salt, 2c brown rice, 3c vegetable stock, 4 large tomatoes, pureed in the blender (or 3c canned tomatoes, crushed), 1 diced onion, 3 cloves garlic, diced

Method:

- Prepare the veggies: cut the eggplant in half and slice into 1/2" pieces. Prepare zucchini in the same manner. Seed the bell peppers, cut in half, and slice into fat strips. Peel and seed the acorn squash, and cut into bite sized cubes. Slice carrot into 1/4" rounds.

- Roast the veggies: spread the eggplant, carrots, and squash onto a baking tray. Sprinkle with olive oil and half of the spices. Spread the zucchini and peppers onto a separate tray. Sprinkle with olive oil and the remaining spices. Bake both at 350f for about 45 minutes or until very tender (eggplant/squash/carrot tray will take longer). While the veggies are roasting, begin preparing the beans and rice.

- Cook the beans: Combine Adzuki beans, water, and salt in a small pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer until beans are very tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and rinse thoroughly.

- Cook the rice: Combine brown rice, vegetable stock, tomatoes, onion and garlic in a small pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the rice is fully cooked (add more water as necessary so that it does not dry out).

- Prepare the beans and rice: once fully cooked, mix beans and rice together in a casserole dish. Place in the oven while the veggies are finishing roasting, and allow top to crisp and brown. Salt the veggies to taste. Serve with a chili sauce (we made ours by blending jalapeños, some tiny hot chilis, 1/2 a tomato, and a pinch of salt in the blender until it was smooth).

Enjoy!

**If you think you can't find Adzuki beans, you haven't looked hard enough - you can buy them in bulk at Sprouts! Alternatively, black beans or pinto beans will work just as well, but may require a little longer to cook.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Here's the recipe for the lunch we served on February 1st.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:
6-8 large potatoes, 2 red/yellow bell peppers, 1/2 large zucchini, 1 onion, 1-2 heads of garlic (depending how garlicy you like things!), a hand full of field mushrooms, 2 large carrots, dried herbs (such as basil, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano), dry coriander, 1c (dry) green lentils

Method:
- Prepare the garlic to roast: Without removing any of the skin or separating the cloves, slice the very top of the head off of the garlic. Drizzle olive oil over the head and into the cracks that have opened up between the individual cloves. Roast at 350f, covered with a "tent" of tinfoil, about 20 minutes or until the cloves are very soft and beginning to caramelize. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once cooled, pop the cloves out of the skin (this should be really easy if it's been roasted long enough!). Mince the roasted cloves and set aside.

- Prepare the veggies: dice the onion, peppers, zucchini, and mushrooms into small pieces. Spread onto a baking sheet and sprinkle generously with herbs (4Tbsp or more), coriander (2Tbsp or more), and salt. Add some dry chili flakes (1tsp) if you want it a bit spicy. Sprinkle with olive oil. Roast at 350f, about 30 minutes or until veggies are tender but not mushy.
Prepare the carrots in the same way, but roast them on a separate pan as will take longer to cook. They are nice if you leave them longer becuase they get especially caramelized and sweet.

- Cook the lentils: bring them to boil in 3c water (add 1tsp salt), then turn down the heat and simmer until they are tender (about 45 minutes). Drain thoroughly.

- Prepare the potatoes: cube and boil the potatoes (no need to peel unless you have a real aversion to the skins) until tender. Drain. Mash, adding salt to taste. You may need to add some water if they are too dry, or add some olive oil to make them more creamy. Stir in the minced roasted garlic, to taste. (If you have leftover roasted garlic, it is a wonderful addition to salad dressing, pasta sauce, or most anything really). If you have some fresh parsley, mince it up and stir that in too.

- Assemble the pie: start with a layer of 1/2 the mashed potatoes, smooth evenly in the pan (no need to grease the pan). Sprinkle the lentils over the potatoes, then layer the roasted mixed vegetables and roasted carrots over them. Finish with a final layer of the remaining potatoes. Smooth the top, and cover with tinfoil.
At this point you can throw it in the fridge if you want to cook it later on or the next day, or bake it right away to eat now!

- Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Check to make sure it is hot through. Remove the tinfoil and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the top is beginning to brown and become crispy. Eat and enjoy!