Hearty winter dishes: rich lentil cottage pie

Ingredients

• A glug of olive oil
• 2-3 celery stalks
• 2 large carrots
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup chopped semi sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 tin chopped Italian tomatoes
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• few sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 2 x 400 g tins brown lentils

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Preparation

• Preheat oven to 200C.
• Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat and cook onion for a couple of minutes, before adding the garlic. Cook 1-2 minutes but be careful to ensure garlic does not burn.
• Add the celery and carrots and stir for a minute to coat in the oil and garlic, then add all remaining filling ingredients except the lentils. Allow to simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the veggies have softened.
• Stir through the lentils and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer the filling to an appropriately sized deep baking dish.
• Meanwhile, cover potatoes in cold, salted water and bring to the boil, allowing to continue boiling until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes and mash them in the saucepan.
• Stir in the butter, milk, egg yolks and cheese. Spread over the filling and drag a fork over the potatoes to roughen them a bit - the rough parts will get crispy in the oven.
• Bake 15 - 20 minutes in the preheated oven until bubbling and the potato is golden.