Lentil and Sweet Potato Pie
It’s back-to-school season, and back to juggling school pick-ups and swimming lessons and art classes and on and on…. So, it’s also back to needing nutritious, delicious and healthy dinners that can be prepped in advance. This is perfect for a wet autumn evening when you need a warm comforting dish with a pop of colour to brighten things up!
While it would be tempting to call this a vegan/vegetarian version of cottage pie or shepherd’s pie, it really isn’t. I don’t like minced meat so I don’t even know how to make them! But I do know that shepherds look after sheep, so shepherd’s pie is lamb while cottage pie is beef. The more you know eh?
However, this pie would make a brilliant substitute if you are trying to add more pulses/lentils and fibre into your diet – both of which are instrumental in managing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Ingredients
2 Big sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Garlic 2 cloves
Carrots 2-3 medium-sized
Leeks 4 small or 2 big - white parts
Dried Brown Lentils – 1 cup / 200g
Bay leaf x2 (dry or fresh)
Jelly Stock Pot - ½ of one of the little pots or dried stock cube if taht’s what you have
Tomato paste – 2 Tbs
Optional: Knob of butter / Cheese / ½ glass of white wine
This served the two of us for dinner and lunch the next day – so 4 servings!
Method
Preheat your oven to 180c.
Cut the sweet potatoes in half and leave the skin on, unless you/your family take issue with the skins!
Place the sweet potato in a deep dish – preferably the one you will bake the in pie, to save washing up. Drizzle with olive oil and season with black pepper. Put in the oven. They will need to bake for 30 - 40 minutes – until soft and fully cooked.
While the sweet potatoes are baking, get on with the lentils. Chop the garlic finely. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large pan over a low heat and add the garlic.
While the garlic is cooking, wash and slice the leeks and carrots. Add to the pan and put the lid on. Cook for 5-10 minutes until softening and smelling great.
Pop your dry lentils into a sieve and give them a quick rinse. Add to the pan along with the bay leaves, tomato paste and stock cube. If you wish, add ½ a glass of white wine at this stage for flavour.
Add water to the pan – you want the lentils and veg to be just covered with water. Start with a mug of water and work up from that. Put the lid back on and cook over a low – medium heat for 20-30 minutes until the lentils and veg are soft.
Check the lentils after 15 minutes and add 100ml more water if it’s looking dry. You may need to repeat this again after another 5 minutes. If you have overdone it with the water just continue to cook with the lid off so some of the water evaporates off. What we are aiming for is soft well-cooked lentils but not soupy.
Check your sweet potatoes – once they are soft and fully cooked through put them into a big mixing bowl. Leave the oven on if you are going to cook this straight away.
Mash the potatoes with a fork, skin and all. The skin is so soft that you can just mash it in – honestly, this works!
Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil to the sweet potatoes – you could abb a knob of butter instead if you prefer.
Once your lentils are ready, take out bay leaves as you can’t eat them. Layer the lentils and veg over the base of the baking dish and then top with the sweet potato. You can use a fork to make the fun lines on top of the sweet potato – is that done to represent the fields that the shepherd is watching over?? That’s what I always thought they were!
You can sprinkle over cheddar cheese or feta at this stage, I recommend doing this!
Bake at 180c for 20 minutes.
Serve!
You could also let this sit and bake later in the day, or pop in the fridge and bake the next day.
