Lentil shepherd’s Pie by Simon Bryant

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30ml olive oil
1 onion diced
3 garlic cloves
3 stalks celery diced (and heart)
3 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
1 tsp Carroway seeds
Sprig of rosemary
200g mushrooms diced
2 tbls tomato paste
1 can diced tomtatoes
300g brown lentils (soaked for several hours overnight, simmer from cold in just enough
veggie stock to cover & cook till just soft, do not drain)
100g green beans sliced into 1cm pieces
2 carrots diced
1 litre Veg stock or water
25 ml red wine vinegar
1 tbls Lemon zest
Handful of dried wild mushroom mix, ground to fine powder(optional for extra flavour)
1/3 bunch parsley chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Mashed potatoes 
500g potatoes
Salt and white pepper
80g butter
100ml Milk
1  tsp Mace
1/4 cup Parmesan

Heat the oil in a large frypan and add the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add the celery, carrot, carroway seeds, rosemary, bay leaves and thyme. Saute for a few minutes and then add mushrooms.

Deglaze with red wine vinegar then add tomato paste and diced tomatoes and cook out for a few minutes.  Season to taste.

Add lemon zest , mushroom powder , beans and cooked lentils in the stock they cooked in. Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Season to taste, remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf.
Pour into a baking dish and top with mashed potatoes and bake until golden brown.

For mashed potatoes, boil them in salted water until soft.
Drain off water and dry in the pan before mashing with butter and milk.
Season to taste.