Lentil Shepherd's Pie

There are lots of vegetarian shepherd's pie recipes out there, usually with some form of the same ingredients to make up for the ground or leftover meat in the omnivore version: mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, carrots etc. The Moosewood Cookbook has a classic, for example.

John Bishop's recipe (his sister's actually, though I imagine he's tweaked it), follows along these lines, but the spicing and preparation take it up to another level. The notes contributed by the use of balsamic vinegar, lemon zest and honey as well as the spicing and the lentils (we used du puy as we were out of regular brown) combine to produce a lovely umami experience, tangy and a little tart. Then it's all mellowed by creamy mashed potatoes (we didn't have rutabaga, but the yukon golds we used were perfect).

The only warning I'd add is that this takes quite some time to prepare. The ingredients are simmered for 40 minutes before being put into the oven for another 40 minutes. WIth prep time it's easily two hours or a bit more. I cut a bit of time on the oven side with no ill-effects; the potatoes were not as brown as they might have been, but everything was properly cooked.