February 7, 2022
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BY: Sara Liberow
Cooking with @THYMELYEATS
Comfort Food with an Asian Twist
In their legendary Thanksgiving edition, Bon Appetit published a recipe for “Garlic Miso Mashed Potatoes.” I’ve never been a fan of mashed potatoes, but their recipe converted me. After making an overly ambitious giant batch, I was inspired to turn the leftovers into an Asian-inspired shepherd’s pie. I adapted Bon Appetit’s recipe here to use as a topping, making it kosher friendly, adjusting the amounts to be proportionate to the meat mixture (no one likes a bad potato-to-meat ratio), and cutting down some of the steps for you. I always like to serve a heavy dish like this with a bright, complementary salad. This kale salad provides just the right balance.
Asian Inspired Shepherd’s Pie
Chili garlic mushroom beef filling topped with miso mashed potatoes
This recipe feeds a crowd of eight (plus a few kids). If you’re feeding a smaller crowd, you can either halve the recipe or better yet, freeze the leftovers.
FILLING
* You can find the mushroom umami spice at Trader Joe’s or Target.
TOPPING
FOR THE FILLING
Season the ground meat with a sprinkle of paprika and mushroom umami spice.
Heat one tablespoon sesame oil in a large, heavy, ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Increase heat to medium-high and cook the ground meat (in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan), undisturbed in the pan, until it’s well browned underneath. Break up the meat using a spoon or spatula until nearly cooked through, but with some pink remaining. Transfer meat to a plate with a slotted spoon.
In the fat that’s left behind by the meat, sauté the shallots until soft, then add garlic, ginger, mushrooms, parsnips, green onions, and shredded carrots. Once the veggies are sautéed nicely, season with more umami spice, paprika, and stir in chili garlic sauce, miso tamari (or soy sauce), and broth. Scrape the bits from bottom of the pan, and cook for another 15 – 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until liquid is almost completely evaporated, and any remaining sauce is the consistency of gravy, 15 – 20 minutes.
(If you are not using an ovenproof skillet, you can transfer the filling to a 9×13 pan and bake it in there)
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
FOR THE FILLING
Peel and quarter potatoes. Place in a large pot and pour in water to cover by one inch. Season generously with salt. Bring water to a boil over medium-high, then reduce heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally until potatoes are very tender (a tester or paring knife should easily slide into flesh), about 20 minutes from the time water starts to simmer. Drain potatoes and let sit 5 minutes to dry out; reserve pot.
In the now empty pot, add one tablespoon of vegan butter and the crushed garlic. Sauté until fragrant (be careful it doesn’t burn).
Put the sautéed garlic in a separate bowl, add the rest of the vegan butter and the miso paste and stir to create a paste.
In the pot, bring the coconut milk to a simmer. Add the potatoes and miso butter back in and mash to desired texture, combining it well with the miso butter. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Carefully top meat and mushroom filling with the miso mashed potatoes. Smooth out over filling so that no meat is peeking up through potato and use a fork to “rake” through the mashed potatoes create decorative ridges.
Bake shepherd’s pie until filling is bubbling around edges and top is golden brown, 15-20 minutes.
Kale Salad
with cucumber, avocado, cashews, and soy ginger dressing
If you don’t already stock miso in your fridge, this column just gave you two reasons right here. It’s the not-so-secret ingredient everyone needs to have on hand to add some savory depth to everyday dishes like salmon, roasted veggies, soups, dressings — you name it.
Dressing
Salad
Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add kale, cucumbers, and radishes, and toss to combine. Gently stir in the avocado and cilantro. Top with cashew pieces and toasted sesame seeds
simple blank notepad on rustic wood table, background
Roasted Tomato Fennel Soup
I love to make this soup pareve, but you can make a double batch and serve both dairy and meat versions of it. For the dairy version, we love it with grated parmesan and a side of grilled cheese; for the meat version, I like to top it with gnocchi and curry pulled short ribs (but that’s a recipe for a different time :).
Ingredients
Arrange the tomato wedges, jalapeño, and fennel on a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil and salt.
Peel and discard the papery outer layers of the whole garlic bulb, while leaving intact the skins of the individual cloves of garlic. Using a sharp knife, cut 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the top of cloves to expose the individual cloves of garlic. Place the garlic heads in a foil “pouch”, drizzle with olive oil and salt, and add them to the roasting pan (the pan will catch any drips of oil should the foil pouch leak).
Bake on 415 degrees for 30 minutes or until the fennel starts to caramelize at the edges. Remove fennel and keep roasting the tomatoes and jalapeño until those get a bit of charr and the garlic fully softens, about another 30 minutes. Reserve some of the roasted veggies for topping the soup.
While the veggies are roasting, begin softening the leeks in a stockpot with a generous drizzle of olive oil. Add the carrots, and sauté until softened. Add the spices, the roasted fennel, jalapeño, roasted garlic cloves (you can easily peel the skins off now), and stir.
Add tomato paste, wine, coconut milk, and crushed tomatoes, reserving the can to fill with broth or water, loosening the bits remaining on the can and adding it to the pot, until the veggies are just about covered (you can always add more later if you want to thin it out).
Simmer for 15 minutes, remove the bay leaves, and blend to desired chunkiness. Add salt to taste. Serve with the reserved charred tomato, fennel, and jalapeño, a drizzle of high-quality olive oil, flaky salt, and croutons if you’d like an added texture.
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