Lentil Roast

The shot above shows this recipe during preparation.

I dug this one out after our family’s lapsed vegetarian decided to get strict about her eating habits again.

It’s so yummy that I found the meat eaters amongst us demanding a helping of this to go with their roast beef.

It works marvellously as a roast meat substitute for a Sunday roast with all the usual trimmings, but it’s just as good served with salad a new potatoes for a light(ish) summer supper.

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Ingredients (to feed four)

150g/5oz red lentils

125g/4oz green lentils

(or more-or-less any combination of red/green that you have to hand totalling 225g/8-9oz; all red is ok, all green doesn’t work)

450ml vegetable stock

(you’ll know by now that I’m too lazy to make stock – dissolve a veggie stick cube or two in boiling water, it’s easier and very few people will be able to tell the difference and those who can would be rude to tell you!)

a bay leaf

(or two if, like me you really like a bay infusion)

Butter to grease a bread tin or paté dish

(or a goodly blob of the stuff as I like to think of it)

120g/4oz fresh breadcrumbs

225g/8-9oz grated mature cheddar cheese

1 leek, finely chopped

125g/4-5oz mushrooms, finely chopped

chopped fresh parsley (to taste)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 beaten eggs

salt and pepper

What to do:

Plop the lentils, stock and bay leaf (or leaves) into a saucepan; bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed.

Chuck the bay leaf /leaves away.

While the lentils are cooking down, grease a bread tin or ceramic paté dish with butter and heat the oven to 375˚C//Gas 5

Stir the cheese, leek, mushrooms, chopped parsley and 90g of the breadcrumbs into the lentils.

Then mix in the beaten eggs and lemon juice (the eggs will bind the mixture together during cooking)

Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste (personally I didn’t use any salt at all – I reckon the stock cube has enough).

Pack the mix into the greased bread tin or paté dish, sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs on top and dot with a little more butter.

Shove the lot into the oven and bake for about 1 hour (it should be a golden colour when it’s done).

Loosen the loaf with a palette knife (or whatever you have to hand), tip it onto a serving plate, slice and serve immediately.

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To drink? I enjoyed some fresh orange juice, but that might just be me. Try a crsip, dry white or a nice cold lager; a light ale might work well, too.