Is there anything more comforting and satisfying than a mashed potato topped pie? This is hearty and healthy family food. Perfect for a cosy evening weekday meal and also special enough, I think, for a Sunday lunch. Colcannon is a great way to get some extra greens in, and it’s crazy delicious! I also cook enough for two and freeze one for a rainy day…no shortage of those here in Ireland am I right?
Here’s the flexible and simple recipe. I hope you enjoy it and it becomes a part of your regular rotation. It’s certainly a winner in my house. Liz x
Ingredients (makes enough for 2 pies which serve 4 hungry people each)
- 2 white onions – diced
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 sticks of celery – diced
- 6 carrots – diced
- 6 cloves of garlic – sliced
- 2 tbsp crumbled, dried mushrooms
- 2 mugs of green or brown lentils – rinsed
- 2 stock cubes
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 glass of red/white wine (or a tbsp or two of vinegar)
- 1 tsp each dried thyme, rosemary and sage
- 10 or so floury potatoes
- 6 scallions/spring onions – chopped
- a large bunch of kale or half a spring green cabbage – chopped
- a generous knob of butter/margarine
- a splash of oat milk
- salt and pepper to taste
- seasonal greens to steam and serve on the side
Method
You’ll need two large pots and two baking dishes. Preheat your oven to 200C. Get a large pot of water on to boil.
Peel your potatoes (or don’t if you prefer a rustic mash), chop them into even sized pieces and put them in the large pot of water to boil until soft.
Meanwhile make the lentil filling. Sauté the onion in the oil until starting to soften and turn golden. Then add the celery, carrots and garlic and sauté until fragrant. You can of course switch the base veg for whatever you have eg beetroot, parsnips, swede, mushrooms…
Add the rinsed lentils and the wine/vinegar. Give the pot a quick stir then add 6 mugs of water, crumble in the two stock cubes and the dried mushrooms. Add the dried herbs, bay leaves and some black pepper then simmer, stirring often, until the lentils are cooked and have soaked up most of the water. Add more water if needed, just keep an eye on it.
Put the chopped scallions in a wide bowl and just cover them with oat milk so that they can infuse their flavour through the milk.
Once the potatoes are nearly cooked through, add the kale/cabbage to the pot to quickly steam in the last 3 minutes or so of the cooking time. Then fish them out and put them in the bowl with the oat milk and spring onions.
Drain and mash the potatoes with the butter and plenty of salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Then stir the kale/cabbage, scallions and milk through the mash.
Taste the lentil filling and add more salt/pepper as needed. Them assemble the pies. Make one to eat now and one to cool down and freeze for another day?
Divide the lentil filling between two oven dishes, then divide the mash. Smooth it out and then rough it up a little with a fork so that you get nice crispy bits in the oven.
Put one of the pies in the oven to bake and crisp up. It’s still warm so it should only take 20 minutes or so. If you are cooking one from cold it will take a lot longer. You will need to cook a cold one covered with foil or a baking tray until hot in the middle, then remove the foil/baking tray for the last 15 minutes or so to allow the pie to take on some colour.
Serve with seasonal greens and enjoy!
