Greek Shepherd's Pie

Everyone loves shepherd's pie, don't they? It's also a super easy dish to make vegetarian. For a traditional type pie, most people will have the ingredients on hand already, it's not difficult to throw together, and is one of those wonderfully comforting dishes.

Then, there are interesting twists on shepherd's pie. This is one of my favourites. It comes from Looneyspoons. It's Greek-inspired and delicious!

The pretty coloured layers in this hearty pie are as appetizing as the taste. Yves Veggie Ground Round takes the place of ground beef for the crust and layers of tomatoes, spinach & cheese are topped with mashed potatoes.

I like the potatoes when they're a little browned and crispy. Turning on the broiler for a few minutes at the end of the cooking time accomplishes that nicely.  Just to amp things up on this batch, I decided to use up a couple of Daiya cheddar slices that I had. You could also use the shreds, but this is what I had in the fridge. 

I just chopped up the slices and added them to the potatoes while I was mashing them. They were still hot, so it melted the Daiya right in. Yummy! Or if you prefer, Opa! 

Greek Shepherd's Pie (based on Shepherdopoulos Pie by Janet & Greta Podleski)

4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered

½ tsp. salt

2 slices of Daiya cheddar style, chopped into ½-inch sized pieces, ¼ cup Daiya cheddar style shreds, or            ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

½ cup milk 

1 pkg. Yves Original Veggie Ground Round

¼ cup unseasoned dry bread crumbs

¼ cup minced onions

1 egg white *

2 tbsp. ketchup

1 cloves garlic, minced

¼ tsp. black pepper

1 large tomato, thinly sliced

¾ tsp. dried oregano

¼ cup shredded Swiss cheese (Gouda is also nice) 

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese 

10-ounce pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 

Cook potatoes in a large pot of boiling water until tender. Drain well. Add in salt & Daiya, then mash a bit to get the Daiya melted. Add milk and mash until smooth. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, combine Yves Veggie Ground Round, bread crumbs, onions, egg white, ketchup, garlic and pepper. Mix well (using your hands works best). Pat this mixture over the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. 

Layer tomato slices over the "crust". Sprinkle oregano over the tomatoes. Spread Swiss and feta cheeses over the tomatoes. Top cheese with chopped spinach. Spoon mashed potatoes over spinach and spread out evenly. Smooth the top and bake in a 350°F oven for 45 minutes. Let sit or 5 minutes or so before slicing into wedges. 

Makes 4-6 servings

* If you wanted to make this completely vegan, you can easily switch out the milk and cheeses for non-dairy alternatives. I haven't tried it, but I imagine ground chia seeds that were mixed with water and allowed to sit until gelatinous would probably work as the binding agent to keep the crust together.