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
Orzo with white beans and spinach
Orzo with white beans, spinach and a hard cheese finish.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 12 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 a quarter of the beans thickens 150 ml of stock
- Photograph the finished plate
- Time
- About 25 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 440 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 23 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains gluten, milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- orzo. Most dry pasta is just wheat and water, but some contains egg; check the packet.
- vegetable stock. Vegetable stock often contains celery, and some contain milk or gluten; check the label, especially if you need it vegan.
Cooking steps
Cook the orzo in boiling water, following the packet, then drain it.
Meanwhile, warm the oil in a wide pan over medium-low heat and cook the garlic for a minute, until fragrant but not coloured.
Add the beans and stock. Crush about a quarter of the beans against the side of the pan with a fork and stir them back in, so the stock thickens into a loose sauce.
Add the orzo and the spinach and turn everything over the heat for a minute or two, until the spinach has wilted.
Take the pan off the heat, stir in most of the hard cheese and serve with the rest scattered over.
The useful detail
Mash a few beans into the stock to create a light sauce. Their starch does the job cream would, which is why nothing else is needed to bind the pan.
Make it work for you
One serving is Half the pan, a deep plateful. 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.
Butter beans instead of cannellini
Larger and softer; they crush even more readily.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Parmesan instead of a vegetarian hard cheese
The same in the pan. Parmigiano Reggiano is made with animal rennet, so it is not vegetarian.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Gluten-free pasta
Works; nutrition is not recalculated.
Allergens: Removes gluten.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A vegetarian plate with the protein split between the beans and the cheese, and more fibre than a pasta dish usually carries.
| Energy | 440 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 23 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| of which saturates | 3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 71 g |
| of which sugars | 3 g |
| Fibre | 8 g |
| Sodium | 800 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| orzo | 120 g | FDC 169736Pasta, dry, enrichedFoodData Central records dry pasta as one entry rather than by shape. Orzo is the same durum wheat pasta, cut small. | 445 kcal | 15.6 g |
| olive oil | 4.5 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 40 kcal | 0.0 g |
| garlic | 5 g | FDC 169230Garlic, raw | 7 kcal | 0.3 g |
| white beans | 200 g | FDC 175204Beans, white, mature seeds, canned | 228 kcal | 14.5 g |
| vegetable stock | 145 g | FDC 171583Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve | 7 kcal | 0.4 g |
| spinach | 150 g | FDC 168462Spinach, raw | 35 kcal | 4.3 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 | 880 kcal | 45.9 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. The orzo drinks the sauce overnight; loosen it with stock or water.
- 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
Spinach and ricotta malfatti
Tender spinach and ricotta dumplings in tomato sauce.
About 45 min · 480 kcal · 25 g protein per serving
Vegetarian