A nice way to warm up is with a green vegetable and lentil cottage pie straight from the oven. Packed full of leafy greens and delightfully nutritious vegetables, it is bound to please after a day of adventures outdoors.
The cabbage and leek really are the stars of the base, in my opinion. If you have any leftover kale or other leafy greens in the garden, throw them in too. Bulk it up with as many greens you have around. I’ve utilised here what I had from this weeks veggie box. For my little family this will last us over several meals, especially if served with some salad or steamed vegetables on the side.
Recipe for Green Vegetable and Lentil Cottage Pie
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Instruments:
Chopping board
Large kitchen knife
Large oven proof pot
Strainer
Masher
Ingredients:
Base layer
80g butter
5 cloves of garlic
6 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
3 sprigs oregano, leaves picked
3 large sprigs of parsley, leaves picked
Pinch of dried chilli flakes
1 leek
1 broccoli head
1 small cabbage, outer leaves removed
1 large bunch chard, stalks removed
1 bunch of radish tops
1 tin of lentils
Top layer
1.5kg potatoes
1 cup full cream milk (or more!)
Handful of grated cheese, a combination of tasty and parmesan works well.
Method:
1. Wash and chop your potatoes (peeling optional). Boil them until soft and strain.
2. Return the potatoes into the pot, add milk and mash together.
You can add more or less milk, we like to have a soft, silky and smooth finish that is more runny than you usually expect from mash potatoes.
Set potatoes aside in a different dish.
3. Wash and finely slice all of the vegetables, cutting your broccoli into small pieces. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.
4. Heat your pot and add half the butter. Once heated, add the leeks, garlic and herbs and cook until leeks are starting to brown.
5. Add the broccoli and cook it down, stirring regularly and adding more butter as required. Continue this process in batches with the cabbage, chard and radish tops, cooking them down and then adding more.
It will take at least 5 minutes in between each addition of more leafy green.
6. Once you’ve cooked down all the vegetables, add the strained tin of lentils and salt, pepper and chilli to taste.
7. Even out the mixture in the pot, then add your potato layer back on top.
If you want grated cheese add it on top too.
8. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes until it is heated through and your cheese has browned.
9. Serve by itself or with some delicious sides
Variations can be made to make it either vegan, or to please meat lovers in the house hold.
For a vegan version, you would just need to swap out the butter for a vegetable based oil, such as olive oil. Also either exclude cheese altogether from the top, or used a vegan based cheese.
For a meat version, you can cook in some mince meat at the end of step 4.
Happy cooking!
Bon appètit.
