Lentil cottage pie

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I am keen to make lentil cottage pie.

Would you think brown lentils are better than red?

Or does it not make any difference?

or puy lentils??

I use red lentils as they turn to more of a mush, which my family prefer. If you prefer more of a lentil-y, firm texture, use brown/green (not puy). I would recommend using quite a lot of chopped veg too, for a good flavour (mushrooms, peppers, courgette etc) and plenty of herbs and garlic.

Haven't made full-on veggie cottage pie, but I replace half the normal amount of mince with green lentils, quite a nice texture.

I found this on a food thread on here. I didn't have courgettes or mushrooms but it was still good , and made loads, enough to freeze some.

1 large onion
3 celery stalks
3 large carrots
2 cloves garlic
1 courgette (recipe said mushrooms but I didn't have any)
250g green lentils
800ml veg stock
Shake of thyme/mixed herbs
Tomato purée
Splash Worcester sauce

I chopped the onion and celery in mini chopper and diced carrots and courgette.

Sweat onion, celery, carrot in butter/oil for 10 mins or so til soft.
Add courgette/mushrooms and cook another few mins
Add herbs (no salt yet), stir
Add lentils and stock, bring to boil and simmer 40ish mins with lid on, until most of liquid is absorbed.
When cooked add few squirts tomato purée and splash Worcester sauce, then s&p to taste.

Top with cheesy mash
Bake for 30 mins at gas 5

Red works better.

I use a recipe which uses tinned black eye beans. lovely

www.planetveggie.co.uk/2012/11/12/shepherds-beany-pie/

thanks all :)

Will use red lentils (as that's what we already have!) and give it a whirl.

once we run out of red, I'll buy some green and give it another go.

Might be sometime, as I have about 1.5kg of red!

I use a combo of red and puy

Just red is a bit mushy

If you eat dairy, a bit of blue cheese or red leicester crumbled into the lentils is nice. Other good additions are mixed grilled or sauteed peppers and sweetcorn.

Oh, we're not vegetarian! :)

Hmmm, maybe I can push the boat out and get some brown/green lentils

I made a shepherds pie after christmas using leftovers and a small amount of lamb mince. The revelation was the chestnuts. They were free from the garden and really bulked out the meat without anyone noticing.

Did you put them in whole?

i definitely recommend brown/green lentils for shepherds pie/lasagne

No the chestnuts had been chopped into about quarters and stir fried with brussel sprout leaves and bacon for Christmas lunch. There was some left over and I just chucked the whole lot into the shepherd's pie. DS2 was most put out when I revealed that he'd just eaten brussel sprouts in the shepherd's pie

Brown or green lentils here.

The Delia one with the goats cheese topping is so good