Lentil Shepherd's Pie

There's nothing we enjoy more than getting into the Food Matters Kitchen and recreating old favorites. As requested by one of our Food Matters Team Member's, we've taken the much loved Shepard's Pie and done our own spin on it to create a vegan version .

Ingredients

• 800 g sweet potatoes
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 sticks of celery, diced
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ a bunch of fresh thyme
• 350 g mushrooms, chopped
• 12 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 cups organic vegetable stock
• 400 g presoaked lentils, drained and rinsed
• 400 g presoaked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• Handful of fresh, flat-leaf parsley
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 30 g almonds, crushed

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
2. Peel and chop sweet potato into rough 2cm chunks and place into a large pan of cold, salted water over a medium heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender.
3. Drain and leave to steam dry, then return to the pan a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Mash until smooth, then set aside.
4. To a medium pan over medium heat, add diced onion, carrot, celery, 2 of the crushed garlic cloves and ground coriander with a good splash of oil.
5. Pick in the thyme leaves, then cook until softened.
6. Meanwhile, roughly chop the mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes, then add to the pan along with the vinegar. Cook until soft.
7. Stir in the stock, lentils and chickpeas, then leave to cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until slightly thickened and reduced. Add parsley, salt and pepper to taste and stir through.
8. Transfer to a baking dish (roughly 25 cm x 30 cm).
9. Spread the sweet potato mash over the top, scuffing it up with the back of a spoon.
10. In a small bowl add the third crushed garlic clove, rosemary leaves and crushed almonds with a splash of olive oil. Crush and mix together then sprinkle over the mash.
11. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve with seasonal greens.

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