Lentil and vegetable hotpot

Although we’re not vegetarians, I try to make several meals a week that don’t include meat, so when Hello Fresh asked me if I’d like to try one of their recipes, I went for the veggie option and chose this lentil and vegetable hotpot. I would imagine this would be really easy to make into a vegan dish by changing the cheese too, so it’s a really good staple supper recipe to have under your belt if you’ve got a houseful of people who all have different dietary requirements. I’ve changed the recipe a tiny bit (we love a bit of spice), but feel free to leave it out or add your own tweaks too. I guarantee this will end up being one of your favourite veggie dinners. These amounts are supposed to serve two but we had a ton of leftovers - just double up if you need to.

A little note on lentils

The original recipe calls for a tin of lentils, which once drained yield about 265g, depending on which brand you go for. If you’d rather cook your own, just bear in mind that dry lentils weigh about half as much as cooked, so for this recipe you’d need around 125g dried lentils. For this lentil and vegetable hotpot, it’s nice if the lentils keep a bit of firmness, so you’re best to stick with green or puy lentils as the red split variety tend to go a bit mushy. You can also buy sachets of ready cooked lentils in most supermarkets (handily, most are around 250g).

Lentil and vegetable hotpot

Serves 2

1 onion
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 large carrot
1 red pepper
150g chestnut mushrooms
1 tin green lentils (or 250g cooked lentils)
1 tbsp dried herbs de Provence
1 tbsp tomato purée
200ml stock (cube is fine)
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
125g fresh spinach or kale
Handful fresh herbs (I used thyme, parsley and coriander), finely chopped
1 large potato (around 400g)
30g cheddar

First, do all your prep:

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6.

Chop the onion, carrot, pepper and mushrooms (but keep them separate for now), drain and rinse the lentils, make up the stock and pick over the spinach or kale. Chop the herbs and separate into two piles, slice the potato (no need to peel) into about 1/2 cm slices, and grate the cheese.

Once you’ve got everything assembled and ready to go, add a slug of oil to a pan and fry the onion, chilli flakes and carrot for about five minutes until everything starts to soften.

Add in the peppers and mushrooms and season well with salt and pepper, cook for another five minutes or so, stirring frequently.

Next, add in the lentils, dried herbs, and tomato purée. Give it a stir, then pour in the stock and add the mustard, spinach and half the fresh herbs. Keep stirring until the greens wilt down, then pile it all into an ovenproof dish.

Layer over the sliced potato (but don’t overlap too much or it won’t cook evenly), then drizzle with a little oil or dot with some butter. Add more salt and black pepper at this stage if you like.

Bake the hotpot for around 20 minutes, then sprinkle over the cheese and whack it back in for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and it’s golden and bubbling. Serve, sprinkling with the remaining herbs, if you like.

We find that you don’t really need anything else to go with it, as it’s hearty and filling on its own, but feel free to add some more steamed green veg or even a hunk of crusty bread if you’re starving.

This recipe also freezes really well so is great for batch cooking.

Once you’ve nailed this recipe, you can start making it your own. I’m going to try making a creamy version with a few tablespoons of creme fraiche, and also maybe replacing the sliced potato with mashed sweet potato. I think it would also be delicious with a tin of tomatoes added in. And if you eat fish, it would make a lovely accompaniment to some simple grilled salmon. Let me know if you give it a try, and have a lovely weekend xx

This post is part of a paid partnership with Hello Fresh. Read more about them in my post here. And if you fancy giving them a go, I’m pretty sure they’re still offering 50% off your first order.