A delicious vegan alternative to a traditional family favourite. We created this dish using our Vegan Beef Stock which brings fantastic flavour to the end result.

Ingredients

For the ragu

120g Onion, diced

8g Garlic, crushed

100g Carrots, finely diced

100g Celery, finely diced

250g Chestnut Mushrooms, finely diced

Rapeseed oil

50g Tomato paste

2 x 400g tin Cooked Lentils

1l Vegan Simply Stock “Beef”

150ml Vegan suitable red wine

2 sprigs each of rosemary & thyme

For the mash

1kg Maris Piper Potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

150g Olive Oil

150g Vegan Cheese, we used Violife grated

Method

• Heat the oil in a large wide bottomed ovenproof dish, add onions, garlic, celery & carrots & sweat until onions become translucent, about 8-10mins.
• Add the mushrooms and season liberally with salt & pepper, add tomato paste and cook out for 1-2mins before deglazing with the red wine.
• Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for 1-2hours making sure it doesn’t boil dry, add water if necessary.
• While the ragu is simmering add the potatoes to a pot, cover with cold, heavily salted water and bring to the boil. Cook the potatoes until fork tender, drain and allow to steam dry.
• Using a masher or a potato ricer, mash the potatoes and add the oil and half of the vegan cheese, continue to check seasoning.
• When the ragu has finished allow to cool slightly so that the potatoes don’t sink into the ragu, use this time to pre-heat an oven to 180C fan.
• Using either a palette knife or a piping bag, spread/pipe the mash on top of the ragu, preferably leaving points or craggy edges that will crisp up in the oven, sprinkle over the remaining vegan cheese and bake for 25-30mins until bubbling and golden.
• Serve with a simple salad.