The ultimate comfort food on repeat in our house all through the winter. Filling, warm, nourishing and oh so delicious on a cold night. We use meaty mushrooms and red wine for deep, dark flavours. Instead of plain potato mash, we mix it with swede (with loads of butter and black pepper) and drizzle with rapeseed oil before it goes in the oven for a gorgeous golden, crispy mash topping. Give it a try and see why it’s a firm, family favourite.
Liz x
Ingredients (serves 4 or 6 with sides)
- 2 white onions, peeled and diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
- 3 sticks of celery, trimmed and diced
- 5 carrots, trimmed and diced
- 250g chestnut mushrooms, roughly diced
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 vegetable stock cube (or a tbsp of bouillion)
- 2 tins of cooked green lentils, drained
- 1 small glass of red wine
- Cornstarch slurry (1 heaped tbsp cornstarch stirred into 1 glass of cold water)
- 1/2 a swede & around 600g of potatoes, peeled, chopped and boiled in salted water until very soft
- 50g of vegan butter (or more to taste) with more salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper for the mash
- a drizzle of cold pressed rapeseed oil
Method
- Pre-heat your oven to 200C and get your potatoes and swede on to boil in salted water.
- Meanwhile, in a wide, oven and hob safe pan, sauté the chopped onion, garlic, carrot, celery and mushrooms with a tbsp of rapeseed oil, salt pepper and the dried thyme.
- Once the vegetables have softened, add the bay leaves, red wine, drained lentils and crumble in the stock cube. Stir and cook out the alcohol for a couple of minutes. Then add the cornstarch slurry and stir over a medium heat until thickened.
- Taste the lentil base and adjust the seasoning if needed with more salt or pepper. Drain and mash the potatoes and swede with butter, salt and plenty of pepper. Then top the lentil base with the mash, rough it up with a fork and drizzle over some oil.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until bubbling hot and golden and crispy on top. Enjoy with some steamed greens or a lovely crisp kale and apple salad.
