Cook! For Goodness Sake

By Linda Garrettson

It’s March—the month that supposedly comes in like a lion and leaves with a lamb’s fresh breath of spring. By March we have grown tired of eating all those yummy, warming root vegetables that sustained us all winter; our taste buds yearn for fresh asparagus, peas and fresh greens and, if only, a juicy local strawberry! But alas, the unique and very special microclimate of the Icebox of Connecticut is not yet ready to satisfy these cravings.

By this time of year, we may feel cooped up as well, especially after this latest round of Covid, and anxious for a bit more community. 

With these challenges in mind, I created a recipe to help us ease gracefully into March and satisfy the culinary and human connection needs that have built up during a long winter. Voila! My plant-based version of shepherd’s pie: aka “Oh My, Lentil Pie.”

In this recipe, I have packed a medley of winter root vegetables with a hint of a few tender spring vegetables that are almost ready to poke up through the thawing soil. 

This is also an opportunity to gather a community around you: friends, family or visitors to help with the preparation. Feel free to go it alone, too. Cooking has been said to be the highest art form. Make it a meditation and enjoy the process. Here’s a chance to express your creativity.

Another bonus to this recipe—and this is huge—is that it contains a great diversity of vegetables. Two of the most important secrets to good health (in terms of the foods we eat) are to eat more plants, which reduces our risk for all of the chronic diseases known to humans, and to eat a wide variety of plants. 

Your gut microbiome loves diversity. All those little microbes that live in our digestive tracts do not like the same foods. When they are not fed the food they like, they wither and die. The more microbes that live in our biome, the stronger our immunity becomes. It’s a simple formula for good health. It makes me sad to think that I might have killed off my okra-loving microbes because that is one vegetable I never eat. 

I could also call this recipe “Diversity Pie” because it contains a dozen different vegetables. Talk about your microbiome-loving recipe! If you are really looking for a challenge, keep a list of how many vegetables you eat in a week. A+ if you can get to 60!

Oh My, Lentil Pie

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

Smash topping-8 cups total

3-4 yellow potatoes, unpeeled and diced

1 small cauliflower, cut into small pieces

1 medium turnip, peeled and diced

2 tbsp. nutritional yeast

½ tsp. sea salt

*optional: ¼–½ cup soy or oat milk, if needed

Filling

1 cup brown or green lentils, rinsed

2-3 cups low sodium vegetable broth

1 leek sliced thinly or 1 diced red onion

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 tbsp. turmeric

1 ½ tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. sea salt

2 cups carrots, unpeeled and cubed

1 cup sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 cup green string beans, cut into 1-inch pieces

8 bella mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup fresh asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tsp. rice vinegar

3 tbsp. nutritional yeast

1 tsp. dried thyme or 2 tsp. fresh

Juice of ½ lemon

Method

Smash:

Place potatoes, cauliflower and turnip in a steamer basket and steam covered about 20-30 minutes or until fork tender. 

Drain and mash/smash the vegetables. (Add a little plant milk if needed. The vegetables contain a lot of water so you might be able to skip this step.)

Add nutritional yeast and sea salt.

Blend well and set aside.

Lentils:

Boil 3 cups of water; add lentils and a few pinches of sea salt and continue to cook uncovered until tender, about 25 minutes.

Drain excess water and set aside.

The filling:

Heat 1 cup of vegetable broth on medium heat.

Simmer the leeks, garlic and ginger for 3-4 minutes.

Add the turmeric, cumin and sea salt and continue to cook for another few minutes.

Stir in another cup of broth and the vegetables in this order: carrots, sweet potato, the lower ends of the asparagus, mushrooms, the asparagus tops, peas. Stir after each addition. (The idea is to cook the harder vegetables first and not overcook the tender ones.) The vegetables should be crisp, yet tender.

Add more broth as needed.

Add the rice vinegar, nutritional yeast, thyme and lemon.

Stir gently and allow flavors to blend for 3 or 4 minutes.

Add the cooked lentils and stir to combine well.

Finish

Place the filling in an ovenproof casserole. 12” x 8” works well. 

Smooth on the smash topping (Bonus points for swirling a design in the topping! Try using the tines of a fork.) 

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until the center is hot. The edges should be nicely browned.

Let the lions roar and the lambs ewe and ahhh!