A healthy feast for January: lentils and winter veg with baked mushroom and poached egg

Lentils are a very under-rated food, I think. Healthy, filling, full of protein - they are just the thing for January when you are trying to undo the effects of Christmas excess. They soak up other flavours and there's something comforting about them. A lentil-based meal doesn't feel like self-denial in the way that a salad might.

Puy lentils are definitely the most chic and the ones you tend to see in salads and other recipes where you want the lentils to keep their shape. But actually, brown lentils do a very similar job and are much cheaper (especially if you buy them in large bags from an ethnic grocer).

This is a dish full of earthy, wintry flavours. There are a few different elements to this, but none of it is difficult and it really doesn't take too long. It's well worth spending a couple of minutes on making the marinade for the mushrooms, as the rewards in terms of flavour are enormous.

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the lentils and roasted vegetables:
200g lentils - brown, Puy, or other variety that will hold its shape when cooked
2 bay leaves, fresh if possible1 bushy sprig rosemary (you can use other herbs if you prefer, such as a pinch of dried thyme or a few stalks of parsley)
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 small onion
1 teaspoon olive or vegetable oil
2 eggs
Few sprigs fresh parsley, to serve (optional)

For the marinated mushrooms:
2 large flat field mushrooms
1 clove garlic
Small pinch chilli flakes or chill powder
Juice of half a lemon
A few sprigs of fresh thyme or a pinch of dried thyme

Method
 
Rinse the lentils and put them in a large pan with the bay leaves and rosemary, if using. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Cook until tender (likely to be about 25-35 minutes) but stop before they have broken up and lost their shape. Keep warm.

Meanwhile, put the oven on to heat at 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Chop the carrots, onion and celery into small pieces.Put in a roasting tin with the oil and stir around to distribute the oil. Put in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Keep warm.

As soon as you have put the vegetables in the oven, wash the mushrooms and put all the marinade ingredients in a small mortar and pestle and crush them together until you have a fragrant marinade. (If you don't have a mortar and pestle, just chop the garlic and thyme finely and mix everything together). Add a little salt and pepper and rub over your mushrooms. Place on a baking sheet, gills facing upwards, and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked - they should be slightly shrunken and oozing mushroomy juices.

A few minutes before you are ready to serve, poach the eggs in boiling water for a few minutes so that the white is just set but the yolk runny.

To serve, remove the bay leaf and rosemary sprigs from the warm lentils. Divide between two pasta bowls and plates and put the roasted vegetables on top. Perch a mushroom on top of the vegetables and then finally an egg on top of each mushroom. Garnish with parsley, if using.