Celeriac Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:
For the vegetarian mince:

• 1 large onion, roughly chopped (Tropea if you can get it, or you can also use 2 large shallots)
• 5 large garlic cloves, finely diced
• 250g mushrooms, finely diced
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 8 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
• 250ml mushroom or vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp miso
• 1 large carrot, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced
• 1 heaped tsp smoked paprika
• a good pinch of chilli (optional)
• ½ cup red wine
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 100 g / 1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
• 1 can cooked lentils (or precooked lentils)
• 1tsp sugar
• Olive oil, for frying
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the celeriac mash:

• 1 kg celeriac (if you don't have enough, you can combine with potato)
• 1 head of garlic, roasted
• 1 tbsp miso paste
• ½ cup cream
• 1/3 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, adjust to taste
• A dash of milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Wash, peel and dice your celeriac. Season with salt, pepper and a bit of oil and roast in the oven until tender, approximately 20-30 minutes. Slice the top off an entire garlic head and place in the oven with the celeriac to roast.
2. In a large heavy bottomed pan, add the onion with a little bit of oil and fry for 5 minutes until golden. Add your minced garlic and continue to fry for an additional 2 minutes.
3. Add your diced mushrooms, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves and allow the mushrooms to cook down and release their liquid, approx 8 minutes. Add your carrot, celery, smoked paprika and chilli (if using) and continue to cook until slightly softened, for 5 minutes.
4. Poor in your wine and cook for 2-3 minutes to cook if some of the alcohol. Then add the canned tomatoes, tomato puree, stock, miso and sugar. Cook for 20 minutes or until all vegetables are tender
5. Meanwhile, toast some walnuts in a pan until browned. Remove from the hear and roughly chop.
6. Once the base is cooked, add the chopped walnuts and lentils and cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove the rosemary springs and bay leaves.
7. Whilst the base is cooking, once the celeriac has been roasted, remove from the oven and add to a blender (or use a masher). Squeeze out the roasted garlic into the celeriac, add the cream and grated nutmeg. Dissolve the miso and a little bit of water or milk and add to the celeriac. Blend everything or mash together until you have a creamy consistency. You might need to add additional milk to loosen the mash to an appropriate consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. In a oven safe dish, ladle in your vegetarian mince. Top the mince with dolops of your celeriac mash. With the back of a spoon, smooth our the celeriac over the mince until it fills the dish. (Optional) Using the tines of a fork, score the top of the celeriac mash to help the edges go crispy.
9. Place your Shepard's pie under the grill for 10-15 minutes or until the mash has crisped up.
10. Serve hot and enjoy!