I recently posted on my Smallest Smallholding Facebook page about a homemade lentil bake that I had just scoffed (see picture). I was pretty chuffed with it, as the lentil bake not only contained homegrown onions and garlic, and homegrown Charlotte potato mash topping, but it also tasted pretty damned good.
There were a couple of the requests for the recipe, so here it is. It’s really nothing fancy at all, but it’s one of those one-pot rustic winter-warmer type dishes that you can whip up quickly when you feel like it:
Vegetarian Lentil Bake Recipe
Ingredients:
(Makes enough for 2-4 servings, depending on whether you’re a piggy like me. Preheat the oven on about Gas Mark 6 before you get started.)
- 2 medium onions, chopped or diced
- 2-3 large garlic cloves
- 1 cup of red dried lentils (just literally a small mug or average tea/coffee cup)
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes OR 1 small box tomato passata
- 2 tins of kidney beans in chilli sauce (I use Waitrose’s own) OR 2 tins baked beans (prefer kidney beans)
- Marigold vegetable bouillon powder/vegetable stock cubes
- Dried mixed herbs
Topping:
- 3-5 large floury potatoes (e.g. Maris Piper) OR handful of Charlotte potatoes – enough to cover top in mash or sliced
- Milk for mash, with a pinch of salt and ground cracked black pepper to taste
- Cheese (optional)
Method:
1. Sweat the chopped onions and garlic in a little olive oil, then add the passata/chopped tomatoes and kidney beans/baked beans and mixed herbs. You can add some salt and cracked black pepper to taste at this point, too.
2. You can either boil the lentils before adding them, or stir the dried lentils straight into the tomato mixture (but they may stick, so you’ll need to keep stirring until they’re suitably softened)
3. If the mixture is a bit too thick, at this point you can add between 1/2-1 cup of water and simmer for around half an hour until the lentils are soft. Add the marigold powder or two cubes of vegetable stock and stir thoroughly. During this time, you can boil the potatoes ready for the topping – either thick slices of potato, or ready for mash.
4. Once the filling is ready, put into a casserole dish or oven dish and top with layers of sliced potato, or mash. You can add cheese to the topping if preferred. Bake in the oven for around 20-30 minutes until topping is crispy.
And that’s all there is to it.
Hmmmm, sounds lovely Lucy! I love lentils, especially lentil soup, but will give this a try!
Thankyou! I had this at a local vegetarian restaurant recently and desperately wanted to try and make it myself. I’m off today to buy my first ever bag of lentils!