A friend of mine once said that the only way to make vegetarian food interesting was to wrap everything in pastry. Perhaps she was right as this is great. The flakiness of the puff pastry works well with the smooth and lightly spiced lentil, sweet potato and crumbly cheese filling.
You could substitute feta or Lancashire for the Wensleydale cheese and coriander for the parsley.
Quantities will serve 4-5 people for a light lunch with a little spinach and watercress salad.
1 bay leaf
2-3 handfuls of puy lentils
1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon
1 green chilli – finely chopped
1 clove garlic – finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sweet potato – peeled and cut into small dice
1 puff pastry sheet
200g Wensleydale cheese
Handful parsley – roughly chopped
Place bay leaf, lentils, sweet potato and bouillon in a small pan. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 -20 minutes until the lentils are soft but hold their shape and the sweet potato is cooked through.
Strain then add the crumbled cheese and chopped parsley. Season with salt and freslhy round black pepper and leave to cool.
Heat the oil in a small frying pan. When hot add the garlic and chilli and fry gently for 3-4 minutes. Add to the lentil mixture.
Heat over to 200C.
Roll out puff pastry sheet onto a baking tray. Cut one edge off so the pastry is a square. Score round the edge of the pastry – about 1cm in from the edge. Prick the middle area all over with a fork. Then place in the oven for 15 minutes until slightly browned.
Remove and leave to cool a little.
Spread the lentil mixture over the middle section of the pastry base.
Taking the off cut of pastry, cut into narrow strips and arrange into a lattice over the top of the lentil mixture. Return to the oven until heated through and the lattice has browned.
