If you've ever wondered what to feed your friends with food requirements, this recipe is the solution. It can be made as a vegetarian dish (you can always grill some chicken for your other guests to go along with it), gluten free or add meat to it if you wish.
Any way you dish it up, I hope you find it as delicious as we do in our house.
Basically, this is a modified sheppard's pie. I didn't do any special shopping for it. I looked in my fridge, freezer and veggie basket, and used what I found – some brussels sprouts, a carrot, some celery, a rutabaga, a beet, peas, corn, a leek, an onion, garlic, sweet potatoes and some pre-cooked lentils. The spice I used was curry.
Any Way You Like it
Casserole
Ingredients
3 sweet potatoes (or potato
of your choice) baked until soft.
2 cups of cooked lentils or a
bean of your choice (cook according to directions or used canned)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ large onion diced
1 leek – white part chopped
1 beet
½ rutabaga
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
7 brussels sprouts halved
½ cup of frozen peas
¼ cup frozen corn
Vegetarian Cheeze Sauce (or use
your own recipe for a white sauce, or cheese sauce)
Recipe follows.
2 teaspoons curry powder
(more to taste if you like curry!)
Directions
Scrape potatoes into a bowl and add 1/4 cup of milk (or milk substitute) and a tablespoon of butter or butter substitute (like Earth Balance). Whip with mixer, then set aside.
In a large pot, sautee garlic, leek, and onion for 2 minutes to impart flavor. Add any vegetables that take the longest to cook. (beet, carrot and 1 rutabaga) Sautee for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add the other vegetables and cook for about 8 minutes more. Add the beans. Set aside.
Make the Cheezy Sauce (or use your own sauce with the curry added)
1 c nutritional yeast
3 T flour (wheat, rice or spelt)
2 1/2 T corn starch or arrowroot powder
½ t salt
2 c water
2 T olive oil
2 T Dijon mustard
Combine yeast, flour, corn
starch, and salt. Whisking constantly over medium heat, add water and oil. When
the sauce thickens, add mustard. Continue heating for 30 seconds and then stir
in curry. Add to the vegetables.
In a oiled casserole dish, add the vegetables with the sauce. Spread the whipped potatoes over the top of the vegetables.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
This is one of those dishes that does not have to be exactly the same every time you serve it. I've also made it with a tomato sauce instead of the white sauce. Yup, any way you like it!