Stealing Meals from Other ATL Veggies

Foodie Thievery.

Today we're going to steal from another pair of Atlanta vegetarians. I happen to read their eats blog via RSS. They recently made a vegetarian Shepard's pie and a walnut, avocado, Dijon honey mustard and butter lettuce salad.

Now I think these two make good stuff quite often. They cook a little too vegan for my taste, eschewing milk/egg products where I'd use them. This is a problem for me because cheese is the most important of the four food groups here (cheese, eggs, vegetables and hot peppers). However, her husband is a great food photographer as you'll see on their blog. In addition, she's usually dead on with her mix of veggies.

In her post, Sally says she'd like Vegetarian Times recipes to include more spices. She says she added some, but I don't think she added enough. (She added aromatics [garlic+onion], which is better than nothing, but don't fill the exact role as spices for me).

I think Sage will be a nice addition to this dish. It is something that is used with meats and any other fatty foods. It tastes like an astringent, extremely fresh black pepper. It was one of the herbs we saw growing wild (along with lemon grass) when on Antigua for our honeymoon.

In addition, I think some further bite is needed. So we'll throw some paprika (which is indeed only a little bite) and some dried thyme for a rounding out of flavor.

Also, I'm used to cheese in my Shepard's pie. Alexa thought the pretty orange mashed potatoes were cheese and isn't interested in the dish without it. So, time for a finely shredder cheddar to insinuate itself throughout the dish. I believe it will find itself mixed into the "meat" part rather than the potato part.

Also, Dan said that they thought tangerines would go well in the salad. So we're going to add those in too.

I think it is a *much* safer thing to cook three dishes rather than two. You're insured against one just being plain bad, one having something a guest can't eat [a problem with 4-14 guests], and one being burnt or undercooked. Alexa agrees, and so today, we're also going to make a third dish.

Lentils with Goat Cheese, Olives, and Fresh Thyme. This is out of Three Bowl Cookbook. It will lend a strong snap to the meal with the goat cheese and will round out a meal if the pie or salad proves unsuitable.

--Michael