Winter comfort food at its finest. Rich and warming, but absolutely packed with plants, protein and fibre. This recipe is really adaptable to whatever you’ve got in hand or are needing to use up. I like to use at least half regular potato in the mash topping but the rest can be made up of sweet potato, parsnip, celeriac etc. The lentil ragu is also very forgiving – the base of carrot, onion and celery can be mixed up with leeks, shallots or different herbs and spices. I like to make my veggies go even further by simmering the trimmings of the mirepoix with the dried porcini to make the veg stock – but you can certainly use pre-made if time is not on your side.

Ingredients

2 onions (red or white), diced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp fennel seeds
150ml red wine (or swap for 1 tbsp vinegar of choice)
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp plain flour
300g green lentils
1 tbsp marmite / yeast extract
500ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp porcini
1k potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
750g other root veg, I used sweet potato and parsnip, peeled and roughly chopped
50g butter, diced
1 tbsp chopped chives
Grated cheddar
Salt & pepper
Olive oil

Recipe

1. Rinse the lentils, cover with cold salted water, simmer until just tender and drain
2. Bring the veg stock to a simmer, add the porcini and leave it to stand
3. In a large, wide pan over a medium heat sweat the onion, celery and carrot in a little oil until softened. Stir in the garlic, fennel seeds and cook for another 2 mins. Stir in the flour and tomato paste and let it cook out for a further 2 mins. Add the wine, and let it reduce until nearly dry. Remove the porcini from the veg stock and dice it finely, then add to the pan with the veggies. Slowly pour in the veg stock, little by little, stirring as you go. Stir in the lentils and marmite. Season to taste and add a little extra water or stock if the pan is too dry
4. Meanwhile cover the potatoes and other root veg with cold salted water in a large pan. Simmer until tender and drain. Leave in a colander for a few mins for excess steam to billow off, then mash or pass through a ricer. Stir in the butter
5. Place the lentil mixture in an oven safe tray or pan so that it reaches up roughly half way. Top with the mash mixture (use a piping bag or just spread over the top and create some texture by running a fork over it). Scatter cheese over the top and bake at 200c until golden, around 25 mins. Scatter chives over the top

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