Garden Keeper’s Pie with Beets, Lentils & Creamy Celery Root Mash

5 from 1 vote

Garden keeper's pie is a cozy vegan main course with beets, lentils, herbs, and a creasy celery root topping. Perfect for a holiday meal.

garden keeper's pie w/ beets, lentils + creamy celery root mash
garden keeper's pie w/ beets, lentils + creamy celery root mash

When my inbox is multi-paged, the bills are piling up, there’s drama at work, or when I’ve just had one of those days, you can find me out in the garden with my big girl boots on, just getting dirty and feeling the feelings. Later on, you’ll find me making a garden keeper’s pie ;)

I planted a lot of things this year, all successful in some way or another. I still have some greens out there, but I saved the pulling of my absolute favourite vegetable for when the Fall was certifiably cool. The celery roots. The ones that look like baby aliens, but taste like absolute heaven. Creamy textured, sweet, kinda grassy like parsley, and celery-like.

But mine were so small! Nothing at all like those big, knubby, market ones. Lots of green leafy stalks and tangled up roots full of dirt, ie lots of bits to cut around before you had any real food. My dad advised that I put them in a low spot of the garden for maximal water absorption and then further explained why they can be a bit pricy: they have to take up so much real estate and so much water for so long! Next year I’ll get it right. In the meantime, I managed to scrounge up just enough for two dinners’ worth.

One night I roasted some rough dices with other roots and squash, served it with a spicy gingered quinoa pilaf and a wispy knot of kale, apple and fennel slaw on top. And the other, I served clouds of puréed celery root on top of these little pies–garden keeper’s pies as I’m calling them. I made some small dices of beets, carrots and butternut squash and slowly cooked them down with black lentils, vegetable stock, garlic, and rosemary. Small additions of balsamic vinegar and tamari round the flavours out.

I know all of my American pals are coming up on Thanksgiving, so I wanted to offer up a main course option for the vegetable lovers. Side dishes can be a vegan/vegetarian’s closest pal at the holiday table, but a thoughtful main can make the heart glow just a bit fonder. For more holiday inspiration, check out this roundup right here.

garden keeper's pie w/ beets, lentils + creamy celery root mash // @thefirstmess
garden keeper's pie w/ beets, lentils + creamy celery root mash // @thefirstmess

Garden Keeper’s Pie with Beets, Lentils & Creamy Celery Root Mash

Garden keeper's pie is a cozy vegan main course with beets, lentils, herbs, and a creasy celery root topping. Perfect for a holiday meal.
5 from 1 vote
Garden Keeper's Pie with Beets, Lentils & Celery Root Mash - The First Mess
Prep Time: 45 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins
Servings 4

Ingredients

FILLING:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cooking onion, diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 sprig of rosemary, leaves minced
  • 4 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed and divided
  • pinch of chili flakes, optional
  • 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
  • 5 cups-worth of small diced root or tuber vegetables or squash (I used a mix of butternut squash, carrots & beets)
  • cup black or french lentils, rinsed
  • 2 ½ cups vegetable stock
  • 1 teaspoon tamari soy sauce
  • sea salt, to taste
  • ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
  • 1 tablespoon cold filtered water

CELERY ROOT MASH:

  • 3 cups peeled and diced celery root
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, plus extra
  • ¼ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk

Notes

  • These are rough measures, but this isn’t a fussy endeavour by any means. You’re just making one big sauté, thickening it with arrowroot, topping it with a rustic mash and baking it until the whole thing bubbles and browns.
  • Some cooked beans would fill in nicely for the lentils. Just make sure you throw them in closer to the end of the cooking process.

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly oil 4 ramekins/cocottes/mini gratin dishes with at least 8 oz/1 cup capacity. Place dishes on a sheet pan and set aside.
  • For the filling, heat the 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and sauté until very, very soft, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, and chili flakes (if using) to the pot and stir. Sauté until the garlic is very fragrant, about 45 seconds. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir. Add the 5 cups of diced vegetables and the lentils to the pot and stir to coat everything in the oil. Season heartily with salt and pepper. Sauté the vegetables and lentils another two minutes or so, stirring often.
  • Add the vegetable stock and tamari and stir. The liquid should cover all the vegetables and lentils nicely, by about a half inch. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables are tender and the lentils are just soft, about 45 minutes. It helps if you place a lid on top of the pot slightly askew, leaving a little gap for air to escape.
  • When the filling is done, in a small bowl mix together the arrowroot powder and cold water. Scrape this slurry into the pot with the filling and stir to mix it in. Remove the pot from the heat.
  • For the celery root mash, place the diced celery root and garlic cloves in a medium saucepan. Cover the vegetables with cold water/vegetable stock if you like, and then place the pot over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer until the celery root pieces are tender, about 15 minutes.
  • Drain the celery root and garlic, and place it in a food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Pulse the vegetables a couple times to get them moving. Add the olive oil, unsweetened almond milk, and some salt and pepper. Run the motor on high until you have a cream, homogenous mixture. Check it for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
  • Divide the filling amongst the 4 oiled dishes. Then, divide the celery root mash among the tops of the 4 dishes, smoothing it out with a butter knife or spatula. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top of each pie and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme leaves. Place the assembled pies back on the baking sheet and slide into the oven. Bake the pies until the filling is bubbling and the tops are very lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
13/11/2014 (Last Updated: 13/11/2014)
Posted in: autumn, carrots, creamy, earthy, gluten free, lentils, main course, nut free, refined sugar-free, sweet, umami, vegan, winter
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