Sheepless pie and other stories
Mammies and Daddies across the country are staring into empty bedrooms in their homes as their younglings have moved out. All of a sudden, there is a big, wide open, empty space looking back at them.
As I found myself deep in a confused pit ā feeling lost and directionless for most of the week ā it occurred to me that, of course, my boy, my eldest puddinā is no longer in his room.
The madness that precedes a child moving out of home overtakes any sense you will have of the sudden crash that happens when you no longer see them coming in and throwing their bag down on the floor, despite always having given out to them for leaving their stuff everywhere, or the state of their personal hygiene.
For 20 years Iāve been a mum to my two boys and most of that time, Iāve reared them single-handedly. Iāve never experienced a time when they didnāt want to be in my company and neither of them has given me any gyp about anything, except for the very occasional sulky āyes!?ā or āwhat?ā said in impatience.
Iāve found nuclear reactors of unwashed clothes and their own versions of Fr Jackās underpants hampers, in the form of a large bag of unwashed socks that someone was āmeaning to put in the machineā.
Iāve dragged the pair of them across Europe on buses to film festivals and weāve gone to Star Wars screenings at midnight and had long, long picnics on beaches in the rain.
Iāve done what all families do. Now that my boy is living in an apartment with other people he knows, Iām missing him, Iām worrying will he manage.
I miss him. Did I already say that?
Iāve cooked every day in that time, but when I worked as a press photographer in Dublin we probably had an unbalanced amount of takeaways eaten in front of the Simpsons.
We moved back to Limerick when the arse fell out of the economy and there was little work, but, in the long run it meant more time with the kids and, of course, less money.
From that grew a skill of feeding myself and my boys well, for little outlay. I went back to college to study organic horticulture and life took on a different direction.
Cooking for someone and then not cooking for them leaves a gap, my youngest son eats a lot of sausages, and as you might know, I donāt eat meat.
Iām trying to get him to have a few meat-free meals and so I made a sheepless shepherdās pie in an attempt to get some lentils into him. He was having none of it, but I think its really tasty.
Itās warming and comforting and the closest thing to ānormal foodā you will get as a plant muncher. Sometimes you just need a big, huge, steaming pile of something with mashed potatoes on top, and lie on the couch with a good movie and the fire on, and the plate on your chest.
Enjoy! And look forward to the bag of washing coming through the door at the weekend.
Sheepless Pie
- 250g green or puy lentils
- 1 onion- chopped
- 2 cloves garlic - chopped
- Oil for frying
- 2 carrots - diced
- 2 sticks celery - diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 spring rosemary
- 1 spring thyme
- 1 glass red wine
- 1/2 tin tomatoes, or use the whole thing if you like it tomatoey
- 500ml-700ml vegetable stock
- 2 lb potatoes or a mix or parsnips, spuds or sweet potatoes for the mash
Heat about 3 tbsp of oil in a heavy bottomed pot and soften the onion and garlic for a few minutes, add in the carrots and celery and cook for about eight minutes on a low heat until they are softened.
Add the lentils to the pot and stir them to coat, pour in the wine and bring up the heat to burn off the alcohol, bubble fiercely for a few minutes
Add the stock and tomatoes with the herbs to the pot and bring everything to a bubble, simmer it all for about 40 minutes, making sure it doesnāt dry out ā if itās looking dry add some water.
Season well with sea salt and pepper.
While the sauce is cooking, make your mash by steaming your choice of mixed root veggies.
White potatoes belong to the nightshade family and cause many people inflammation and sore joints, so maybe swap them for celeriac or parsnips, mashed with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 180C and then pour the sauce into a dish and top it with the mash, making those familiar lines with a fork.
Bake it in the oven for about 40-50 minutes until the brown sauce squeezes through the mash and the whole thing gets deliciously gooey. Eat the whole thing yourself!
