I first discovered cheese and lentil pie while staying on some friends’ vegetarian farm in Derbyshire for a festival. We’d been working hard and this was the perfect warming, filling comfort food served with a selection of tasty salads.

I did have their recipe but lost it and had to recreate from memory, so this is my version.

Ingredients

• 300g red lentils
• 1 onion
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 100g cheese such as strong cheddar, grated
• 1tsp dried thyme
• 1tsp dried sage
• 1 slice bread, whizzed into breadcrumbs in the blender
• 1 egg

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180c / Gas mark 6
2. Rinse lentils, then place in pan of cold water and bring to boil. Simmer for approx. 20mins until tender, then drain.
3. While lentils are cooking, finely chop onion then soften in olive oil in another pan.
4. Stir the drained lentils and all the other ingredients together in the onion pan, adding the egg last to bind the mixture together
5. Tip mixture into an oiled, suitably sized dish / tray – I use a flan dish.
6. Bake for around 30mins until set firm and slightly golden
7. Slice and serve