Mushroom and Lentil Cottage Pie

Mushroom and Lentil Cottage Pie
15th October, 2017

This vegetarian Mushroom and Lentil Cottage Pie is awesome. I actually prefer this meat free version to the original and I’m usually a devout carnivore

You can alter the topping with Swede and Carrot or even Potato and Parsnip

Ingredients

For the filling

1 large Onion, finely chopped

2 sticks Celery, finely chopped

2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped

250g Mushrooms, sliced

1 Tbsp Oil

25g Butter

2 sprigs Thyme

1 Bay Leaf

250g Red Lentils

1 Tbsp Tomato Puree

1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes

500mls Vegetable Stock

For the topping

2 Potato, peeled and diced

20mls Milk

10mls Cream

Nutmeg, grated

25g Butter

Method

Heat the oil and butter in a large pan and begin to sweat down the onions, celery, garlic and mushrooms for 10 minutes.

Add the thyme sprigs, bay leaf, lentils, puree, tinned tomatoes and stock. Bring to a boil and then partially cover with a lid and let it cook for about 25 minutes (until the lentils are cooked).

Fill a deep pan with cold salted water and add the potatoes to it. Bring this to a boil and cook the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until done.

Drain the cooked potatoes and add back into the pan, on the heat, to dry off before adding in the butter. Remove from the heat and begin to mash the potato and then add the milk and cream. Mix this together and grate some nutmeg into it (your preference to how much). Mix in the nutmeg

Add the lentil and mushroom mix to the base of a baking dish and then spoon over the mash, ensuring you cover the top of dish

Pop this into the fridge until you’re ready to finish it off or you can freeze it.

Preheat the oven to 180, bake for 20/25 minutes until piping hot in the middle