Root Vegetable Cottage Pie

Serves: 8; Preparation Time: 1 ½ hours

Ingredients

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, rinsed

Two large leeks

Two large carrots

Two celeriac

Three medium turnips (or 500g Swede/rutabagas)

I teaspoon cumin seed

10 g dried porcini mushrooms, sliced

2 ½ cups very hot water

One small, quartered onion

1 teaspoon of Marmite or vegetable Better Than Boullion

3 tablespoons tomato paste

One, 14-ounce can prepared lentils

2 large russet potatoes

4 ounces butter

Splash of milk

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch cast iron skillet and cook the rosemary in it until it’s crisp. Remove rosemary and set aside on small plate.

2. Trim, wash and slice the leeks into large pieces. Add into hot skillet with rosemary-flavored oil. Sweat for 5 minutes. Wash and peel all root vegetables—except the potatoes—and dice to a similar size. Add carrots, celeriac, and turnips/swede and cumin seed to skillet, season with salt and pepper and cook together for 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a blender: Soak 10 g dried porcini mushrooms in 2 ½ cups hot water for 10 minutes. Add to the blender the onion, Marmite/bouillon and tomato paste. Blend until smooth. Then add contents of the blender along with one, 14-ounce can prepared lentils, juice and all, into the skillet. (I prepared my own from dried lentils I had on hand a cup of which I cooked along with a bit of celery, carrot and onion and 2 cups of water in a small saucepan.)

Cook until contents of skillet are carmelized, about 20 minutes more. Stir frequently, lifting up sticky bits from the bottom of the pan.

4. Then, peel and roughly cut the potatoes and cook in a pan of salted water for 25 minutes or until tender, drain well and mash with the butter and milk and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon the mashed potatoes over the contents of the skillet and place skillet on a tray in the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly golden and bubbling at the edges. Sprinkle with crisped rosemary and serve.

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