Vegetarian shepherd’s pie : Wk32/5

Serves 4 : Very easy : Takes a little longer

Ingredients
400gm potatoes
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 stalks celery, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 carrots, diced
100gm mushrooms, sliced
3 courgettes, diced
100gm green beans, chopped
150gm whole brown lentils
650ml vegetable stock
1 tsp dried thyme
3 Tblsp tomato paste
4 Tblsp grated mature cheese
Fresh chopped parsley

Method
Heat the oven to 200ºc.

Boil the potatoes in lightly salted boiling water until soft.
Drain well and mash.

Spray a saucepan with non-stick cooking spray.
Dry fry the onion, celery and garlic until they start to soften.
Add the carrots, mushrooms, courgettes and green beans.
Pour in the stock and the lentils.
Add the thyme and stir.
Cover with a lid and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, or until the lentils are really well cooked.
Stir through the tomato paste.

Spray a casserole dish (or 4 individual dishes) with non-stick cooking spray.
Pour the vegetable mix into the casserole dish(es) and top with the mash.
Sprinkle the cheese over the potato.

Bake at 200ºc for 15 minutes until the top is golden.
Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

If you use red (split) lentils, the cooking time can be shortened by about 10 minutes.
I used beef stock powder instead of veg stock powder for a very meaty flavour.