Serves
4 People
Cooking Time
90 minutes
Season
Dietary
By Caroline Marson, Love Food, Hate Waste
Ingredients:
- 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped (Use up what you have. Spring onions and shallots work well too.)
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 2 red peppers, deseeded and chopped into large pieces
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 225g dried puy lentils
- 3 x 400g canned chopped tomatoes (Add in any fresh tomatoes that need using up)
- 300ml vegetable stock
- Salt and black pepper
For the cheese sauce:
- 560ml natural yoghurt
- 225g cottage cheese
- 2 eggs
- 175g hard cheese, grated
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) mark 6. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions, garlic, peppers and cook gently for about 10 minutes or until just golden brown.
Add the lentils, herbs (inc bay leaf), tomato puree and toss around the pan for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and remove any scum from the lentils that comes to the surface. Simmer for about 50 - 60 minutes or until the lentils are cooked, remove the bay leaf.
Meanwhile, preheat the grill. Brush the aubergine slices with the remaining olive oil and season. Cook the aubergine in batches until tender, soft and golden brown, about 10 minutes on each side.
To make the cheese sauce:
Beat together the eggs and yoghurt with the cottage cheese and grated hard cheese.
To assemble the Moussaka, spoon half the lentil mixture into a large dish about 25 x 33cm. Cover with half the aubergine slices then spoon over half the cheese sauce mixture. Repeat with the remaining lentil mixture, aubergine slices and cheese sauce.
Cook in the oven for about 30-40 minutes or until golden on top and piping hot.
To freeze:
Complete up to the end of step 5, cool, cover, label and freeze the assembled dish for up to 3 months.
To use:
Thaw overnight in the fridge, Reheat in the oven at 200C (400F) mark 6 and cook as above (step 6).
