It’s 10am and I’m still in bed, with a woolly jumper-clad 9 year old next to me.
It’s not that we’re lazy, though actually, we are kind of lazy on Saturdays ;). But that it’s FREEZING: and getting up out of bed this morning means facing the chill – it’s one degree, people, ONE DEGREE – and quite frankly, I don’t want to get all cold and whiny. Because you know the two go hand-in-hand.
The one thing that makes the chill slightly more bearable is FOOD. Warm lovely food. Soups, casseroles, steaming bowls of pasta. Anything that makes you feel like you’re getting hugged from the inside-out. YES PLEASE. And this Lentil Moussaka from HelloFresh is one such recipe.
As a family we’re trying hard to eat both less meat and less refined carbohydrates lately, which is a big shame for both those casseroles and steaming bowls of pasta. But, as evidenced by a particularly sneaky gluten-free vegan bolognese lately, quite often the children don’t notice a couple of quick substitutes in their favourite foods. Which is where this lovely Warming Lentil Moussaka comes in.
It’s worth the little effort: filling and warming for all the family, everyone will adore it.
And that’s not all – follow this link for £10 off your first HelloFresh box. Enjoy!
Lentil Mousakka
Ingredients
- 1 Onion
- 1 Carrot
- 1 Celery Stick
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 2 Potatoes
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 3 sprigs Thyme
- 3 sprig s
- 2 handfuls Baby Spinach
- 1 tin Organic Lentils
- 1 tin Chopped Tomatoes
- 1 Vegetable Stock Pot
- 250 g Ricotta Cheese
- 2 tbsp Hard Cheese Italian Style
- 2 tbsp
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees. Peel and dice the onion and carrot, dice the celery and garlic. Peel and slice the potatoes into discs less than ½cm thick.
- Heat a tbsp of olive oil in a non-stick pan on a medium-low heat. Cook the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Add the bay leaf and your thyme leaves. Tip: Pinch the thyme stalk between your fingers and run your fingers along it to strip off the leaves. After around 5 mins the ingredients will have softened up.
- Meanwhile, chop the aubergines into 1 cm slices ready to lay on top of the mousakka.
- Add in the spinach and cook it for a couple of minutes until it has wilted.
- Drain and rinse the puy lentils and stir them into the onion mixture along with the chopped tomatoes and the stock pot. Let the mixture bubble away until you have a nice thick sauce.
- Once the water from the sauce has disappeared, stir through all of the ricotta until you have a smooth sauce and then take the pan off the heat.
- Lightly grease an ovenproof dish and place a layer of potatoes in the bottom. Layer half of your lentil mixture on top and cover this with another layer of potatoes. Put on the other half of the lentil mixture and one last layer of potatoes. Top with the aubergine. Bake with a lid on for 30 mins.
- Give the kitchen a quick tidy and put your feet up until dinner is ready.
- After 30 mins, if you can slide a knife easily into the aubergine and potatoes then they are cooked. If not, give them another 5 mins. Once they are cooked, turn off the oven and pre-heat the grill to high. Sprinkle the hard Italian cheese on top of your moussaka. Put it under the grill until it browns off.
- Serve the moussaka on plates and enjoy!
Huge thanks to HelloFresh for working with More Than Toast.