For hearty comfort food with an Italian twist, this purè di patate recipe from Mario Matassa is a sure-fire winner…
Serves 6
Preparation time 10 minutes
Cooking time 30 minutes
Ingredients:
• 1 celery stalk, finely diced
• 1 small carrot, peeled, finely diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil (you can use the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes
if you like)
• 1 garlic clove, peeled, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, chopped
• 250g green lentils
• 4-5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
• 1 tsp tomato purée
• 500ml vegetable stock
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 500g potatoes
Instructions:
1 Place the celery and carrot in a saucepan with 1 tbsp olive oil and the garlic and chilli. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the lentils, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato purée and stock. Simmer for 25 minutes, until the lentils are cooked. If necessary, add a little extra water – the lentils should not be soupy in texture. When the lentils are cooked, season to taste, then set aside and keep warm until needed.
2 While the lentils are cooking, make the mashed potatoes. Peel the potatoes and place them in a saucepan of salted water. Bring to the boil and cook. Once they are cooked, mash the potatoes with half of the lentils. To serve, place the mash in a large serving bowl with the rest of the cooked lentils.
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