lentil shepherd's pie

 Trying to recreate a dish I used to make decades ago, with ideas from here (which was way too much food, so scaling down).

potatoes

• about 1.5 pounds, peel (partially) and boil until soft, then mash and add
• butter, milk, sour cream, salt & pepper

filling

•  (optional: rehydrate a few shiitake 20-30 minutes, then toss stem and chop caps; hold onto the soaking water)
  
•  chop and cook an onion and some carrots and then garlic (or garlic powder) until soft
•  add about 3/4 cup of dry brown or green lentils 
  
•  add some tomato paste and Bragg's amino acids (plus 1/4-1/2 tsp marmite if desired)
  
•  add herbs de provence or thyme/rosemary/marjoram/whatever's good and pepper
•  add about 2 cups of stock (or mushroom soaking water)
  

Simmer about 30 minutes.  Then add in

• frozen vegetables such as green beans and let cook about 10 minutes.

Oil pan and put lentils in with potatoes on top.  Cook at 425 about 15 minutes.  

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leftovers notes: I halved the recipe from the linked site because it makes quite a bit.  Making the larger amount works well to freeze the lentil filling in pint jars (approximately).  When I want three servings of the shepherd's pie, I make some mashed potatoes, thaw the filling and put it in a bread pan and top with potatoes.  Bake at 400 covered about 15 minutes, then uncovered another 10 or so.  Cheddar cheese on top is a special treat!