Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells
Pasta shells filled with spinach and ricotta beneath a tomato sauce.
About 55 min · 540 kcal · 30 g protein per serving
Vegetarian
Lentil and mushroom pie with sweet potato mash
A lentil and mushroom base under sweet potato, baked until the top colours.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 21 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm the filling holds its shape after 12 minutes of reducing
- Confirm the mash browns in 22 to 25 minutes at 200°C
- Photograph the finished dish
- Time
- About 1 hr 5 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 570 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 30 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- vegetable stock. Vegetable stock often contains celery, and some contain milk or gluten; check the label, especially if you need it vegan.
Cooking steps
Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan). Peel and cube the sweet potatoes and boil them for 12 to 15 minutes, until soft.
Meanwhile slice the mushrooms thickly and brown them hard in half the oil, in two batches, leaving each batch undisturbed for 2 minutes before turning. Set them aside.
Add the remaining oil, lower the heat and soften the diced onion and carrot for 8 minutes.
Add the drained lentils and the stock and simmer for 12 minutes, until the liquid has reduced and the mixture holds its shape on a spoon. Return the mushrooms.
Drain the sweet potatoes very well and mash them dry, with nothing stirred in. Spoon the filling into an ovenproof dish, top with the mash, fork the surface and scatter the grated hard cheese over.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the top has coloured.
The useful detail
Mash sweet potato dry, with nothing stirred into it. It holds far more water than a floury potato does, and a loose mash slides off the filling instead of sitting on it and browning.
Make it work for you
One serving is Half the dish. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Ordinary potato for the top
Drier and fluffier, and it browns more. Less sweet against the lentils.
Per serving: about 15 kcal less, about 1 g more protein, about the same fat.
Parmesan instead of vegetarian hard cheese
Identical. Parmesan is made with animal rennet, so it is not vegetarian.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Red lentils cooked from dry
They collapse rather than holding shape, which gives a smoother filling. Use 150 g dry.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A pie where lentils carry the protein and the fibre, and the topping is a vegetable rather than a starch dressed in butter.
| Energy | 570 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 30 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| of which saturates | 3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 90 g |
| of which sugars | 20 g |
| Fibre | 24 g |
| Sodium | 770 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sweet potatoes | 350 g | FDC 168482Sweet potato, raw, unprepared (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) | 301 kcal | 5.5 g |
| mushrooms | 300 g | FDC 169251Mushrooms, white, raw | 66 kcal | 9.3 g |
| olive oil | 14 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 121 kcal | 0.0 g |
| onion | 120 g | FDC 170000Onions, raw | 48 kcal | 1.3 g |
| carrot | 150 g | FDC 170393Carrots, raw | 62 kcal | 1.4 g |
| cooked lentils | 350 g | FDC 172421Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt | 406 kcal | 31.6 g |
| vegetable stock | 295 g | FDC 171583Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve | 15 kcal | 0.7 g |
| vegetarian hard cheese | 30 g | FDC 170848Cheese, parmesan, hardCalculated with FoodData Central's hard Parmesan record. Vegetarian Italian-style hard cheeses are made the same way but with microbial rennet, and are close in composition. | 118 kcal | 10.7 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1135 kcal | 60.5 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking. Eat within 3 to 4 days. Better on the second day, and it reheats well because the mash protects the filling.
- In the freezer
- Freezing keeps food safe indefinitely; the texture is best if it is eaten sooner rather than later.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
Mushroom and lentil cottage pie
A savoury mushroom-lentil filling with a soft potato topping.
About 1 hr · 360 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
Vegetarian