Tempeh Shepherdess Pie

Last night for dinner I made the tempeh shepherdess pie from Veganomicon. And I must admit I was disappointed in it. Usually I adore tempeh dishes. This one not so much. I found it quite bland and there was something about the different textures in my mouth I did not care for. But then I got to thinking, it's been over a decade since I have had "real" shepherds pie, and all of a sudden I had a flashback of my mom making it when I was a child and I hated it. So perhaps it wasn't the recipe, perhaps it's just that I hate shepherds pie and forgot about it.