Lentil Cottage Pie

Hearty, comforting, and vegetarian, this Lentil Cottage Pie is my sister Cassie’s recipe, and it’s a perfect vegetarian main dish for Autumn dinners like Thanksgiving.  A few years ago, we were on a family trip in the Scottish Highlands, and we stopped at a small cafe in Helmsdale.  Their vegetarian Cottage Pie was delicious and filling on a cold, windy Scottish day, and it inspired Cassie to create her own. This recipe could be made vegan with a few small alterations – mostly by omitting the butter and using oil or coconut oil instead.

Lentil Cottage Pie

Ingredients

• 3 lbs potatoes, cubed + salt
• 3 tbsp butter and olive oil combined
• 1 Large onion, diced
• 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 large stalks of celery, cubed
• 2 large carrots, cubed
• 1 leek, sliced
• 5 stems of fresh thyme (1/4 tsp of dried would work too, this stuff just grows freely in my garden and can be harvested even in the snowy winter), remove stems after combined and cooked
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/4 cups brown lentils
• 4 cups of potato water (reserved)
• 1/4 red wine (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp marmite
• 1 tsp salt
• A big handful of walnuts, crumbled
• More salt and pepper to taste
• More butter!

Directions

1. Boil cubed potatoes in salted water.
2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil and butter in a large pot until butter melts.
3. Add vegetables as you chop them in order listed – garlic, celery, carrots, leak – and cook until tender.
4. Add thyme, Bay leaf, red wine, and walnuts.  Turn heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally.
5. Once potatoes are done cooking, reserve cooking water. Mash potatoes and set aside (optional: mash with butter, milk, etc. to taste)
6. Rinse and check over lentils for stones, dirt, etc.
7. Add lentils to a medium pot with 4 cups potato water, salt, and marmite.
8. Boil for 30+ minutes until lentils are tender.
9. Preheat oven to 400F.
10. Combine vegetable-herb mixture with cooked lentils. taste and season accordingly with salt and pepper.
11. Grease a 3L baking dish, and place lentil-vegetable mixture in it.
12. Smother mixture with mashed potatoes.
13. Add pats of butter and pepper to taste on top of the potatoes.
14. Bake 15-20 minutes; serve and enjoy!

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