Be The Jam

This stew was made shortly after I had lost the use of my head torch and it was just before dark so I had about half an hour to prepare it before it got to dark to see what I was doing.

Ingredients                                                                                                               

Serves 3

Half a celeriac, chopped into chunks.

A medium sized sweede, chopped into chunks.

One carrot, sliced.

One large parsnip, sliced.

One tin of chopped tomatoes.

One red onion, sliced.

Three potatoes, chopped into large chunks.

A couple of handfuls of red lentils, it is best if these have been cooked and rinsed before use.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Paprika, oak smoked if you have it.

A bay leaf.

Some water.

Method

Put all the vegetables including the tinned tomatoes into a big pan, season, add water until it is just covering the vegetables, bring to the boil and cook for about half an hour or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the lid and add the lentils*, make sure that if they need to be pre soaked they have been, stir in paprika to taste and simmer over a low heat with the lid off for about an hour - stir occasionally and add more water if the stew starts getting too thick as it might burn. Check to make sure a rich flavour is developing, if not add more paprika, salt or pepper to taste.

 Serve in bowls / cups / hub caps / whatever comes to hand with a swirl of decent olive oil some freshly cracked black pepper and bread.

* Ideally the lentils will have been cooked and rinsed before hand, if not you will get a bit of scum on the top of the stew, this you will need to spoon off although if, like me, you are cooking and eating in the dark the scum doesn't matter as you will never see it.