debate night seitan shepherd's pie

Dave's got a cold, it's turning fall, the election is coming and we need comfort food. some veggie spot in park slope had seitan shepherd's pie on the menu, so i thought i'd give it a shot. here's my lazy version. serves 2-4

Preheat oven to 400F

scrub and put on to boil about ~1 lb yukon gold potatoes with some salt- the potatoes at the co-op are very small & organic so they didn't need to be cut or peeled, but if yours are bigger you should cut them into medium sized cubes. boil until very fork tender and drain.

meanwhile, dump 1 12oz tub of Ray's Seitan 'Wheat Meat' into a square baking dish. If you don't have Ray's, any seitan will do, but this brand has the added benefit of some kind of fatty gravy like substance included, whch adds some extra juice and flavor to the mix. if you don't have this in your seitan, you might prefer to add some oil, catsup, or some other liquid (gravy?) to keep the seitan from drying out.

chop 1 onion & some garlic and add it to seitan. dress the seitan mixture with about 3Tbs chipotle tabasco, hearty shakes of basil, cumin and pwdrd ginger, pepper, and a dash of salt. stir to combine all ingredients.

add 1 cup frozen corn to the baking dish, patting it onto the top.

cover the dish with foil, and put in the oven to bake while the potatoes are boiling. bake until everything is hot and the onions are cooked - 20-30 minutes.

when the potatoes are very fork tender, drain and mash with as much butter (~1/2 stick) and (soy)milk (~1/2 cup) as you prefer, salt, pepper, whatever else to your taste.

when the seitan is ready - the juices are bubbling, the onions are tender and everything is looking & smelling good, take it out of the oven.

Turn the heat down to 350F.

Pour the mashed potatoes onto the seitan and press into the top evenly. put back in the oven for 10-15 min or so, until they are a little crispy and brownish, perhaps the juice from the seitan is bubbling up into the potatoes. eat and enjoy!

at mom's house shephard's pie is always served with catsup. dave thought gravy might be yummy but we were too lazy to make some (even from a mix). another recipe i have calls for putting cheese in the mashed potatoes which i always love (smoked gouda perhaps?). this can easily be made deliciously vegan if you so desire, using margarine and soymilk in the mashed potatoes. how do you make it?