Lentils in red wine - Anything but an empty plate

 This was last night's supper and yes, 1 person ate all that. I always laugh when people assume if you don't eat meat your plate is magically empty. As you can see, if you are vegetarian your plate is anything but empty!

The recipe looks quite long and complicated, it really is not. You are making three separate components to get to the end result. This is a yummy vegetarian meal, give it a go and I want to hear how you enjoyed it....or not!

Red Wine Lentils with Mushrooms and Mash

Serves: 2 Hungry

Lentils:

1T Olive oil
1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 mushroom, chopped
80g brown lentils
¾ cup red wine
1 cup vegetable stock
1T tomato paste - optional
1T chopped Parsley
Fry onion in oil till soft, add garlic and mushroom, cook 1 min. Add lentils, wine and stock and tomato paste, cover and cook gently 30 min or till lentils are soft and liquid mostly absorbed. Add more liquid if needed during cooking.
Potatoes:
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
½ tin cannelini beans, drained
1tsp vegetable stock
1 clove garlic – optional (I usually leave it out)
1T olive oil
Boil potatoes till soft, mash and stir in oil. Liquidize the beans with the stock and some liquid from the potatoes (and garlic if using). Stir into the potatoes and keep warm

Mushrooms:
2 large brown mushrooms or 4 smaller brown mushrooms
Butter for frying
1 clove garlic crushed
170ml red wine
1T tomato paste
1tsp honey
Fry mushrooms in butter and garlic for about 4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and keep warm. Add wine to pan, add honey and cook fast to reduce to syrupy sauce.

Now for the best part...

Plate your large mushroom, top with mash. Spoon some lentils over, sprinkle chopped parsley and then drizzle the red wine sauce over.

Usually do some lightly steamed zucchini or green vegetables with this.