Irish Shepherd’s Pie

Happy March! Hey guys, St. Patrick’s Day is coming up. I don’t usually celebrate the holiday much. Except maybe this year I’ll finally make it out to the dyeing of the river. The fifth year’s the charm, right? I might not go out for green beer and overcrowded bars on St. Patty’s day, but I definitely enjoy indulging my few percentage points of Irish heritage with food. Anyway, who doesn’t like eating all the food all the time?

This year for St. Patrick’s day I wanted to get a little fancy and combined a seitan stout stew with calconnon for a take on a shepherd’s pie (Bonus: It’s even green! Thanks cabbage!). It resulted in the ultimate comfort food. Beer, barley, potatoes, and seitan, can you go wrong?

-It’s a decent sized project for a week night, but the stew can be made the day before to make the day of assembly much faster

Irish Shepherd’s Pie

Serves 8-10

Stew Ingredients:
1 tbsp canola oil
1 large onion, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 lbs seitan, we used homemade steamed red seitan from viva vegan
1 cup pearled barley
2 12 oz bottles of stout style beer
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt, or to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste

Calconnon Topping:
1 1/2 lbs yukon gold potatoes, cubed (~6, doesn’t need to be exact)
1/4 head cabbage, shredded
1/3 cup mayonnaise, we used Just Mayo
~2 tbsp of soy milk
1 tsp salt, or to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste

To make the Seitan Stout Stew:
-Heat the oil in a 4 quart dutch oven (or a large stock pot) over medium heat. Sauté onions, carrots, and celery for about 10 minutes until softened.
-Add the seitan and sauté an additional 5 minutes.
-Mix in barley, beer, broth, flour, thyme, and salt. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and let simmer for 25 minutes until barley is chewy and cooked through.

To make Calcannon Potatoes:
-Boil the cubed potatoes until soft
-Boil the cabbage until cooked through, about 8 minutes
-Mash the potatoes in a bowl with the mayonnaise and a couple tbsp of milk until desired consistency is achieved. Add more milk if necessary.
-Add the cabbage, salt, and pepper. Adjust to taste.

Assemble:
If using a stock pot transfer stew to an oven safe casserole dish, otherwise you can just add bake in the dutch oven. Spoon the mashed potatoes on top of the stew and bake at 375 °F for 20 minutes. Broil for an additional 5-10 minutes to get a nice golden crust on top.