Herby Tomato & Lentils with Crispy Marrow

Here’s a great dish!
It contains softly cooked tomatoes, onions & garlic with lentils & fresh basil stirred through, then piled on top of crispy fried marrow (or courgettes or whole grain pasta).

It’s full of natural fibre to help you feel fuller longer & it feeds your gut microbes as well.
You most probably know how protein can help us to feel satisfied & full after eating, but it is often forgotten that fibre does the same thing.

Here in the UK, the British Nutrition Foundation recommends an adult woman has approx 45g of protein per day, but in fact, on average, a UK woman is eating 64g of protein each day. Where as, on average, she is eating just 18g of fibre, which is well under the 30g recommended target.

So what foods can offer us more fibre? Fibre can be found in legumes, pulses, beans, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruit & whole grains.

I hope you can see where the focus for this dish came from - I’ve written it to encourage eating more fibre in a delicious way. 

Take a look at the recipe as there are some optional swaps. 

If you'd like to see the video with snippets from making this dish, head to my Instagram feed here or FaceBook feed here.

1 large red/purple onion, peeled and chopped
1 very big handful chopped tomatoes or 1 x 400g tin canned chopped tomatoes
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 long red chilli, deseeded and chopped 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup/200g cooked lentils (if from a can/tin they are pre-cooked)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 handfuls fresh herbs - basil, oregano, parsley etc
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh marrow, cut into 2 cm wedges (if it is fresh young marrow you will not need to remove the seeds); Or cut up some courgettes into 2cm slices, leaving the skin on; Or cook up some buckwheat or whole grain spelt pasta. The amount of each depends on how much you would like.
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds 1 tablespoon roughly chopped raw almonds
Optional - Cheese for grating onto the dish or torn fresh mozzarella or soft goats cheese for dotting over the top 

Add half the oil and all the onion to a large frypan on a medium low heat. Pop a lid on and cook until the onions have begun to soften (about 5 minutes).
If cooking pasta to accompany this dish, then begin the cooking process now.
To the pan add in the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and chilli. Stir to combine and warm. If using fresh tomatoes, pop the lid back on and cook until the tomatoes have completely softened.
Once warmed and sauce-like, add the lentils and herbs to warm in the pan. Add vinegar, salt and pepper to season the herby tomato and lentil dish.
Tip out the herby tomato and lentil dish into a holding bowl to keep warm. Wipe out the pan and turn the heat up to high; Add the other half of the oil and the marrow pieces or courgettes;
You may have to cook them in two batches.
Cook so they crisp on one side a bit before turning over to cook on the other side.
The marrow or courgettes will not need much cooking because they are delicious semi-cooked and still slightly crunchy.
As you cook the marrows/courgettes add some pinches of salt and pepper.
Towards the end of the marrow/courgettes cooking time throw into the pan the pumpkin and almonds to toast up slightly for a few minutes.
Divide the marrow/courgettes between two shallow open bowls (like pasta bowls) and sprinkle over the pumpkin and almonds.
Top with the warm tomato and lentil dish, scattering over some fresh cheese if you wish, to melt into the dish.