National Vegetarian Week: Lentil and mushroom bake recipe
It’s National Vegetarian Week and, as I’ve been vegetarian for about 12 years, I thought I’d share some tried and tested veggie recipes with the world.
I decided to go vegetarian because I was disgusted by the farming practices that took place in the UK: pigs kept in enclosures so small they can barely move, cattle being fed offal, all sorts of creatures never seeing actual sun light. That was over a decade ago and it seems little has changed. Now, more than ever, supermarkets are forcing producers (farmers is too glorious a word to use on these people) to keep their prices down, so living conditions for these short-lived animals who are seen as nothing more than commodities are not high on producers’ priorities. I’ m sure you can find plenty of gory pictures from slaughter houses via Google. What gives us the right to treat other creatures like this?
Anyway, rant over. This is a recipe for a lentil bake with a garlic mushroom filling.
Lentil bake
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 stick of celery, chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
250g of lentil (you can mix green and red)
1 pint of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon of soy source
Salt and pepper
The filling
25g butter/ margarine
250g flat mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tables spoons of chopped flat parsley
Salt and pepper
And 75g Cheddar cheese to finish
Fry the onions, carrots and celery in a little oil until the onions are soft. Add the lentils, stock, garlic, soy source and seasoning and simmer on a low heat until the lentils are soft and ‘sludgy’.
Meanwhile, melt the butter/ marg in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms for about 2 minutes, stirring. Turn off the heat and add the garlic, parsley, and seasoning.
In a large ovenproof dish place half the lentil mixture. Put the mushroom mixture over this, then top with the rest of the lentils. Sprinkle the cheese on the top. Cook for 25-30 mins at 190˚C/375˚F/ gas mark 5.
Goes lovely with crusty bread or new potatoes and salad.
