We eat a lot of vegetarian meals. I don’t really understand the ‘I must eat meat at EVERY meal’ mentality that a lot of people have. I can only assume that they’ve never learned how to cook vegetables properly, or aren’t adventurous eaters. This is one such recipe that these people should try that would hopefully change their minds.

I know this looks like a plate of brown and green, but the pesto has bags of flavour and the pistachio means that this has great texture.

For the polpette

• 250g puy lentils (cooked)
• 275g courgette
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 125g ricotta cheese
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 40g pecorino cheese, finely grated
• 1 red chilli, chopped
• 1 tbsp parsley sprigs
• Small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped

For the pistachio pesto

• 45g shelled pistachio nuts
• small bunch fresh basil, leaves picked
• 4tbsp olive oil
• juice half a lemon
• 50g grated pecorino cheese

Instructions

1. Pulse the lentils in a food processor until you have a lightly textured mash. Place in a bowl, grate the courgettes and add all the polpette ingredients, reserving half the mint. Season well with salt and pepper. Heat the oven to 220c/fan200c/gas7.
2. Divide the mix into 4 portions and roll 6 balls from each one to create 24 polpette. Put onto a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, then bake for 20 mins.
3. Place all the pesto ingredients into a food processor and whizz to a smooth paste.
4. Take the polpette out of the oven and serve over quinoa with the pesto and the rest of the mint leaves.

Notes

Tip: Use pre-cooked pouches of lentils and quinoa to make this recipe quicker and easier to prepare.

By Anna Jones

Adapted from The thoroughly modern vegetarian