In Portugal at the moment, harvest season is just beginning:
tomatoes, peaches, aubergine and butternuts are all coming out of the ground.
The grape harvest and wine making are both in full swing and our first rains
for months have come, which is a pleasure.
With all the veg available this month we are giving you one
of our vegetarian recipes. Keeping vegetarians in race shape was initially a
challenge for us, as vegetable proteins are not as easy to make into
interesting dishes, but with a little practice it all comes together. In this
recipe the lentils are the protein source.
If you’re a meat eater this recipe can work well as a side
portion of vegetables - just reduce the volumes to suit.
AUBERGINE, LENTIL AND POTATO BAKE
Ingredients:
2 aubergines
250g brown
lentils
4 medium
potatoes
1 tin
chopped tomato
2 cloves
garlic chopped
2 tsp mixed
herbs
Olive oil
Salt/Pepper
Boil the lentils until cooked, approx. 20min and drain off
liquid.
Add the tomatoes, garlic and
seasoning and cook for a few minutes with the lentils.
Slice potatoes thinly, pour a kettle of boiling water over them and
let rest.
Slice Aubergine into ¼ cm
thick slices, lay on a rack or tray and
sprinkle lightly with salt.
Heat a
frying pan with no oil on the stove and dry fry the aubergine until brown on both
sides.
In an oven proof serving dish pour ¼ of the tomato lentil
mixture and place layers of Aubergine on top of this, and then a layer of
potato.
Continue to layer the
ingredients ending in potatoes.
Sprinkle the potatoes with olive oil and dust with mixed herbs and
ground pepper.
Cover with foil and bake @180˚C for 40min.
A simple, hearty, vegetarian dish.
All the best.
Lynn and Scott