Scott Pilgrim vs. the Shepherd’s Pie

One of the greatest things about the Scott Pilgrim books is the way they break the fourth wall and invite you into the story. My favorite instance of this is in Volume 2, where we’re given a little cooking lesson with one of the characters’ favorite recipes. In anticipation of the UK premiere of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World tomorrow, my boyfriend and I decided to make this recipe for dinner tonight and it turned out so well that I thought I’d share it with you all.

Just as presented to you in the book, here are the ingredients. Stephen Stills was, unfortunately, unavailable, but Fraser was good enough to stand in and model for you.

We did make some substitutions. The original recipe calls for celery, but we didn’t have any, so we used the bell peppers we had to give it some crunch and flavor. We also used regular milk and butter instead of soy, since neither of us have an affinity for that stuff. We also used olive oil spray instead of actual olive oil because we forgot to buy the real stuff when we did the shopping. Luckily, this recipe could not be more forgiving. Use what you have, and make do without what you don’t have. We’re already looking forward to the next time we make it to try different things we’ve thought of, like adding some cheese into the potatoes and using some ground turkey or chicken instead of the fake meat stuff.

Now the steps, just as they appear in the book, but with our modifications and comments in parentheses. Remember, kids – if you’re under 23, ask a grown-up to help out.

ONE! Cut up the potatoes into smallish pieces. Leave the skins on if they look okay. (We used 6 potatoes instead of the 4 called for in the book, as the ones we had were on the small side. This turned out to be the perfect amount.)

TWO! Cut up the onion, carrot, celery (or peppers, or whatever), and garlic as small as possible. Use a food processor, or invite your friends and make them do all the work. (or share the chore with your Significant Other and be really careful if you’re both klutzy)

THREE! Boil the potatoes 15-20 minutes until tender, then mash.

FOUR! Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the vegetables and cook for 15-20 minutes until they’re very soft, especially the carrots, which are probably the hardest. You can add some red wine. It’s an option. It makes everything awesome. Your other option is to drink the red wine, which works too. (We didn’t have any, so opted out. We decided that it’d be pretty good though, either that or some balsamic vinegar or Worcestershire sauce).

FIVE! Add the fake meat stuff. (If you use actual meat, cook it first)

SIX! Add the gravy stuff! (Ours didn’t come in a handy pouch like the one in the comic, so we added as much as the package directed to make one recipe of it.)

EIGHT! (yes, eight. There is no step seven.) Add some soymilk and stir so everything’s a bit saucy! (again, we used regular milk. In the end, we decided that it was good, being kind of stingy with the milk, but that it’d be better using a bit more so that the gravy was more liquidy.)

NINE! Mash the potatoes with soymilk and soymargarine. Mmm, mashy. (Real milk & butter here. How much? Some. Add enough to make the potatoes to your taste & texture preference. We were probably on the stingy side with this stuff too, but we liked it that way. Next time, we’ll probably add some shredded cheese of some sort.)

TEN! Get a 9 x 13 baking dish, or a casserole or something, and glop the fake meat/veggie mixture in. (We used a casserole or something. Anything the stuff will all fit in really will work fine.)

ELEVEN! Make a layer of potatoes on top. In between, you can optionally add a layer of sliced tomatoes, cooked spinach, or corn. (We had some nice roma tomatoes on hand, so we sliced those and layered over the veggie stuff and put the potatoes on top.)

You can serve it as is, or bake it in the oven for a few minutes to crisp it up on top. A salad on the side would be health-conscious, but we only have so much energy for this. (We baked it about 15 minutes at about 375 F / just under 200 C. We also did not bother with the salad, but classed it up with some fancy garlic bread we had left from yesterday).

There you have it! Enjoy! Let me know in the comments if you make it and anything different you try with it.

UPDATE:

It turns out that this recipe works out just as well (if not better, depending on your vegetarian status) with ground turkey (or turkey mince, depending on where you are in the world).

Adding some red wine (about 3 glugs) really made it go to eleven. We will not be skipping this “optional” step in the future.

Cheese in the mashed potatoes = win. We used Red Leicester, but I bet any sharp, cheddary type would work.

FURTHER UPDATE!

Using sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes….LEVEL UP!