Lentil Shephard's Pie

Hello :) Do you like lentils? Do you like pie? What about shephard's? Good. Because I have the meal for you. It's rustic and hearty: Lentil Shephard's Pie. I seem to have a thing with pies lately, I know! The recipe was given to me by a friend (hello Sue!), after I wanted more vegetarian recipes a few years ago. I tend to make this quite a few times (...it's a staple) in the colder weather, so I'm not sure why it's taken so long for me to post the recipe! You probably already have most of the ingredients too, which is always handy. No fancy stuff required here.

Recipe: Lentil Shephard Pie (courtesy of Sue)
Ingredients-
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 tsp curry powder
1 cup frozen peas
500g jar tomato pasta sauce or can crushed tomatoes
1 can brown lentils or 1 cup dry brown lentils, cooked*
1 kg potatoes/sweet potatoes, peeled and evenly chopped
Butter, salt and pepper
Method-
1. Heat oil in medium saucepan and saute onion, celery and carrot until soft. Add curry powder (more to taste) and saute further for one minute.
2. Add sauce or can of tomatoes, lentils and peas, bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. *If using dry lentils, pre cook until tender.
3. Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with hot water. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until tender.
4. Drain potatoes and add butter and milk to taste. Mash until smooth, add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Spoon lentil mix into an ovenproof dish, or 4 times 1 cup ovenproof dishes. Top with mashed potatoes. Bake in a moderate oven at 180 degrees celsius for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

Sure, our mixture of potato and sweet potato could have been mashed more, but it's just one of those great throw together meals, that fills you up and is super comforting :)

Have a lovely weekend :)

Hannah x