My friend Kitt said I cook delicious meals that she won’t cook or eat because she’s vegetarian. This really got me thinking. I mean, I love my meat and I eat loads of vegetable in equal measure but I never show much of vegetarian stuff. So I tried to challenge myself a little bit with what I had. A shitload of cheese and some amount of random vegetables.
Cue this cheesy aubergine and lentil bake. It’s as simple as layering all your ingredients and baking them. (Well, you do have to pre - cook your lentils, but still, that’s simple enough right).
It’s a one pot dish which means not many dishes and if you’re not vegetarian, it makes a great side for a roast cut of meat.
Serves 4
· 2 cups, pre-cooked yellow lentils
· 2 large aubergine, thinly sliced
· 1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
· 1 large zucchini, sliced
· 1 large green pepper, julienned
· 2 large tomatoes, sliced into thin discs
· 1 Large onion, sliced into thin discs
· ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
· ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
· 2 table spoons tomato paste
· ½ head, crushed garlic
· ½ cup fresh mixed chopped herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme)
· Salt and pepper to taste
Pre - heat the oven to 180 °C . We shall assume that you’ve already got your pre - cooked lentils 😊. In a small dish, mix together the garlic, herbs and some olive oil.
First, dilute the tomato paste in about ½ cup of water and add to it a tiny bit of the garlic and herbs then pour this tomato mix over the base of your baking dish.
Next, layer the dish with the aubergine then the tomato and onion; then sprinkle a little salt and pepper. On top of this, layer your lentils, top with the zucchini, green pepper and mushroom And another pinch of salt and pepper. Brush some of the garlic and herb mix over this then put the last layer of aubergine and brush with some more of the garlic and herb oil.
Cover the dish with foil and leave it to bake in the oven for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted cuts through smoothly. For the last mile, switch your oven to grill. Sprinkle the cheeses on to the good and put to broil for 3 to 5 minutes.
Serve while hot.