Three Mushroom Shepherd's Pie with Cauliflower Puree

It all started with cauliflower and a dinner party.

 Many times, my inspiration for a meal comes from a single ingredient or a single event. Say I just completed a hot yoga or hot pilates class, then I probably want to eat about 20 mangoes. If I'm under the weather or it's a cold day, then I crave a big bowl of kimchi chigae - a spicy stew of pork and kimchi goodness.

This dish came about when we invited a couple really good friends to our place one weekend. One of them is a vegetarian and so I was combing my Pinterest boards for some options. My working option was a cauliflower soup with mustard and gruyere croutons (still need to make that sometime…), that is, it was until we went to the Queen’s Kickshaw for brunch. The Queen’s Kickshaw is one of the most amazing restaurants in our neighborhood FULL of amazing restaurants. They always have the most flavorful and inventive food, along with really good coffee, beer, and cider. What more could one ask for?

One of the things we ordered was the mushroom shepherd’s pie topped with (can you guess?) cauliflower in place of the mashed potatoes. After a few bites, A and I looked at each other and decided we could absolutely make this.

Here's the aforementioned huge head of cauliflower

Prepping for this dish made me very happy because we were able to buy almost everything at our favorite local produce stand. Fall is upon us and our stand has these massive heads of cauliflower from Long Island. I also love buying produce from the stand because it’s all of such good quality and I can buy exactly the amount I need and avoid wasting food later. We went for a lot of earthy veggies like carrot, fennel, and parsley root. I’ve often used parsnips in place of parsley root since I find them to be similar enough, depending on what I find at the store/stand. For the mushrooms, we couldn’t pick just one kind so we went with three. We bought a container of creminis, a container of oyster mushrooms, and a 0.10lb pack of dried porcini mushrooms.

 

Depending on allergies or eating preferences, this dish can easily be made vegetarian or vegan by subbing non-dairy alternatives in the cauliflower puree. For people with gluten allergies, the 2tbs of flour used to thicken the filling could be substituted with non-gluten thickeners like arrowroot or an organic corn starch. (I've not experimented with these yet, so any input from my GF friends would be greatly appreciated!) Anyway you do it, this dish is delicious and everything you want in a warm, rich, earthy bowl of comfort food.

Pairs best with a nice red wine and really good friends.

 

Cauliflower Puree

2 medium heads of cauliflower

3-4 tbs of butter or Earth Balance

salt and pepper to taste

About ¼ cup of milk, (cow or your preferred substitute. Rice milk is my favorite)

Optional: 2 tsp of thyme, leaves only, no stems

 

If you don’t have a partner in crime in the kitchen, you could make the cauliflower before making the filling. Simply keep it warm on the stove (no heat) with the lid on. If you happen to have someone you like cooking with, by all means, divvy up these responsibilities.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Cut your cauliflower into large chunks. You don’t have to be super precise with this since all of these chunks are going into the pot. Boil the cauliflower for 10-15 minutes till soft and easily pierced with a fork.

Drain the cauliflower and put your butter or Earth Balance into the still-warm pot so that it melts. Put the cauliflower back in the pot and start breaking it down. I did this in two steps. I started with a hand-held mixer to break it down most of the way. At this point, I added in the milk and kept going with a stick blender. You might want to add a bit more butter or a splash more milk if your puree is looking too dry. The stick blender is really perfect for getting a lighter and creamy texture, and I probably blended it for a good 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

We had a bunch of fresh thyme and its flavor goes really well with all the other components of the dish. Stir in the leaves into the puree, cover with the lid, and keep warm until your filling is done.

 

Mushroom Filling:

One large carrot, peeled

one large parsley root or parsnip (either is fine), peeled

one fennel bulb

two medium shallots, minced

small container of cremini mushrooms (the square size, not the rectangle size)

small container of oyster mushrooms

about half of a 0.10 pack of dried porcini mushrooms, we rehydrated about 20 porcinis total

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs flour

½ cup red wine

1 cup broth (ideally the reserved liquid from soaking the porcinis!)

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

*Green bean option, see end of post.

 

Preheat the oven to 375 while you get your mise en place set. I’m all about the mise en place. This French expression just refers to doing all of your peeling, dicing, slicing before any of the big steps. It definitely makes life easier. A and I keep a lot of small bowls and ramekins around just for this purpose.

Take about half of your porcini mushrooms. In my case it was probably about 20-30 porcinis. In a medium bowl, cover with about 2 cups of very hot (not boiling) water. Let these sit for about 20 minutes as you continue to prep. After the 20 minutes, take the porcinis out of the water which is now very dark in color and full of the absolutely delicious essence of the mushrooms. Carefully take the top cup of broth out and set aside; I’ve found when soaking porcinis that a bit of grit settles at the bottom of the bowl.

If the cremini and oyster mushrooms are very dirty just give them a gentle wipe with a damp paper towel. Mushrooms are so connected to the earth, both by flavor and origin, that a little dirt won’t hurt anyone (says I, who as a very little girl was known to try a taste of dirt every now and then).  Cut these all in a small dice.

Take the carrot and parsley root, and cut them in half inch slices. Discard the leafy green parts of the fennel before cutting the white bulb in half. If you look at the fennel cross section, you’ll see a triangular core at the center of the bulb. Cut this out, since it’s tough and not really all that tasty. Then cut the fennel into large quarter inch chunks.  Line a baking tray with foil (for easier clean-up) and arrange the carrot, parsley root, and fennel in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper and work it all with your hands to get everything seasoned. Put these in the oven for about 30-40 minutes or until they are al dente and just beginning to brown. Once these vegetables have been roasted, take them out of the oven and let cool until you can comfortably handle them. Cut these into a small dice.

In a large, heavy bottomed pot heat the 2 tbs of olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and sweat for a couple minutes until they start to become translucent. Sweating is like sauteing but done at a medium-low heat versus a high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes. At this point you can raise the heat to medium high since the mushrooms will release moisture. Add the roasted carrot, parsley root, and fennel and sprinkle the 2 tbs of flour over everything. Stir to coat and keep stirring for 1-2 minutes. Add in the broth and the red wine and whisk or stir rapidly as the liquid comes to a simmer and begins to thicken. If the filling is looking too thin or watery, thicken with a bit of a quick roux; make a smooth paste of flour and water or stock and stir into the filling. If the filling is too thick, add in a bit more broth or wine. Put in the bay leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Cook on the stove top for about 10 more minutes.

At this point, set the oven to 350 degrees. Take a large casserole dish (I used our rectangular 9” x 13” pyrex) and grease lightly with olive oil. The first layer you put in will be the mushroom filling. Spread it out with a spoon or spatula. Then add a second layer of the cauliflower puree. Add as much or as little as you’d like. We went for a 50/50 mushroom filling/cauliflower ratio cause it was all just way too delicious. Put this in the oven and cook for about 20-30 minutes.

Makes 6 very generous servings (about 1-2 cup servings)

*Green bean option:
I also bought a small amount of green beans (no more than half a pound), blanched** them, cut them into inch long pieces, and added them to the filling.  They were a different textural component in what is otherwise usually a pretty homogenous dish. They were also a really nice addition for their flavor and I recommend the extra effort and few extra dirty dishes and implements.

**blanching the beans does not refer to an episode of Golden Girls. After snapping off either end of the beans, cook in rapidly boiling water for no more than 4 minutes. Take the beans out with a slotted spoon and put them in an ice bath to stop the cooking. They will be cooked perfectly al dente but still retain their gorgeous shock of green color.