Lentil Shepherd's Pie–Meatless Monday

Classic comfort food that is completely vegetarian. Love it! You are going to need quite a lot of herbs and spices for this recipe, so be prepared.


Ingredients:

• 1 large onion (fine dice)
• 5 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 3 stalks of celery (fine dice)
• 2 medium Carrots  (fine dice)
• 1 227g pkg of mushrooms (chopped)
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp herbes de provence
• 1 tsp each rosemary, thyme and sage (fresh is best, but dried is fine)
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 cube organic vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2.5 cups dry lentils (soaked overnight if possible)
• Approx 3 cups of water
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 6-7 large red potatoes
• 1/3 cup milk + 1 tbsp butter
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Peel and boil potatoes in a large pot of salted water and while this is happening start preparing the lentil mixture (potatoes are done when they are fork tender).
2. In a Dutch oven (or stockpot) sauté onion in olive oil until translucent, then add garlic, celery, carrots, mushrooms, and herbs and continue cooking for 6-8 minutes on low to medium heat.

1. Deglaze your pot by adding the red wine and let it cook down for a minute or so, then add the water, tomato paste, veggie stock cube and drained lentils to the pot.
2. Bring the pot to a boil and then turn it down to simmer on med- low heat and cook until the lentils are tender ~20mins. 
3. About 5 minutes before the lentils are done cooking add in the frozen peas.  If the mixture appears dried out at any point, just add more water.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper at this point.
5. Mash your potatoes with milk, butter, salt and pepper, add more milk etc if potatoes appear too dry. 
6. Preheat oven to 400F.
7. Scoop your cooked lentil mixtures into a casserole, quiche dish or small lasagne pan and spread evenly, layer the mashed potatoes on top of the lentils and smooth out with a spatula.

    8.  Place the shepherd’s pie into the oven and bake for ~30min or until potatoes have browned nicely.
Serve it with a nice green salad on the side and enjoy.