Ingredients:
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
1 ½ cups red lentils, rinsed and drained
4 cups vegetable stock (homemade or we buy Organics from Zehrs if necessary)
1 10-ounce bag of organic frozen mixed vegetables
3 pounds yukon gold potatoes
2 tsp fresh thyme
Season to taste (pepper or cayenne pepper)
Directions:
Cut and peel potatoes and boil until soft and tender. Mash (blend) using vegetable broth instead of milk and butter. The potatoes need to be fairly smooth so that they are easy to spread over the lentil mixture. When done, set aside until later!
While the potatoes are cooking, saute the onion and garlic (see our video on how to saute onions using just water) until lightly browned and caramelized. Add vegetable stock, pepper and thyme and bring to a low boil. Add lentils and reduce the heat to low simmer. Cook until lentils are tender - 10 or so minutes. Keep an eye on the lentils. They can be a little bit hard as they’ll cook more in the oven. You don’t want them to cook too long or they’ll get mushy. At this point, turn on your oven to 425 degrees.
In the last few minutes of cooking the lentils, stir in the frozen veggies and cover to let the mixture thicken. If the mixture is really runny, add a bit of the mashed potatoes to thicken it. It should be fairly dense so that it acts as a base to the pie!
Using a spray bottle, lightly grease a 9X13 baking dish. Pour in the lentil/veggie mixture and let cool for a few minutes. Then gently spread the potatoes over the top of the lentils using a spatula or spoon. It is a bit tricky to spread evenly as the potatoes stick to the lentils at first.
Cook for 20 minutes or so. When done, I put the bake on the top rack and turn the oven to broil for 2 minutes to lightly brown the potatoes on top. Keep an eye on this as it depends on your oven!
Remove and let cool for 15 minutes. It will seem runny at first. The longer it sits, the more it will thicken…..lovely for left-overs.
Enjoy!
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