Mushroom, Lentil & Kale Stew
Mushroom, Lentil & Kale Stew is rich, thick, and tasty. Packed full of veg and pulses in a lightly creamy, garlic and thyme flavoured broth, it’s a comforting bowlful.
Using tinned lentils, this easy vegetarian (and vegan adaptable) stew is perfect on chilly days. Serve with good crusty bread for dipping in and scooping up every delicious morsel.
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When the weather turns chilly, I love a good stew. Thicker than soup, a tasty stew is pretty much guaranteed to make me feel satisfied and cosy inside and out.
But I’ve realised that all my recipes with the word ‘stew’ in the title contain meat. I suppose that may be because I associate stew with the longer, slower cooking needed to tenderise the tougher cuts of meat traditionally used for stews.
So, while I’ll always continue to make meaty stews like my rich Spanish Lamb Stew or comforting Beef & Bean Stew with Dumplings, I thought it was time to add a veggie alternative.
The result was this rather good Mushroom, Lentil & Kale Stew. Packed with pulses and vegetables in a lightly creamy stock flavoured with garlic and thyme, I think it’s a winner.
MUSHROOM, LENTIL & KALE STEW
As in the examples above, I often add pulses to meaty stews. As well as stretching the meat further, they take up the rich flavour of the simmering stew.
In this vegetarian stew (which, as we’ll see, you can easily adapt to be entirely plant-based), I’ve chosen brown lentils as the protein. You could substitute almost any other pulse, (including the more expensive Puy lentils), but I think their hint of nuttiness goes well with the autumnal feel of the mushrooms. To cut down on time, I’ve used tinned lentils.
In this hearty stew, there’s lots of vegetables too. As well as plenty of mushrooms and a heap of kale, there’s onion and celery plus a small amount of potato for texture. The recipe card at the end serves four people and I reckon each bowlful has 2 – 3 servings of veg.
My preference is for chestnut mushrooms, but you can swap in your favourites e.g. portobello. I always peel my mushrooms, more out of habit than any good reason. Leave on if you prefer but always wipe rather than wash mushrooms.
I think a generous amount of fresh thyme and four fat cloves of garlic give lovely flavour to the stew. The easiest way to take the leaves off thyme sprigs is to run finger and thumb down each one, in the opposite direction to how the leaves are growing. If you don’t have fresh thyme, use half the amount of dried.
You’ll find full instructions and ingredient amounts in the recipe card at the end. If you want to go there now Jump to Recipe.
For more tips plus step-by-step images, read on.
EASY STEW
Start making the Mushroom, Lentil & Kale Stew by browning the onion and celery. I do this in a combination of butter and olive oil, but you could use just oil. When they’re starting to soften and colour, add the sliced mushrooms and brown those too.
When making any stew or soup, I think it’s worth taking your time to make sure the vegetables are nicely coloured. It will add so much more flavour to the finished dish. You may find you need to turn up the heat a little to brown the mushrooms. Just remember to turn it back down to medium before going to the next stage.
The chopped potato, garlic and the thyme leaves go in next. These will only need about a minute. I stir constantly to make sure the garlic doesn’t burn and make things bitter.
The stew gets its lightly creamy sauce from a combination of milk and stock. I use chicken stock and whole cow’s milk. Replace these with vegetable stock and oat milk or similar for a plants-only version. For a thinner stew, you can increase the amount of stock and/or milk.
You then simmer the stew for 5 minutes, add the lentils, then simmer for another 3 minutes. For me, to be worthy of the name, a stew should be quite chunky. But I like to enhance the silky texture of Mushroom, Lentil & Kale Stew by blending a little of it. Off the heat, I go in with my stick blender and whizz for just a few seconds and in only one area of the pot.
The final step is to stir in the kale, roughly shredded, left in bigger pieces or chopped finely, as preferred. Cook for another 5 – 10 minutes, depending how well done you like your greens.
SERVING MUSHROOM, LENTIL & KALE STEW
For me, all this flavoursome and hearty stew needs is some good bread to dip in and scoop up all those tasty morsels. Nutty lentils, slippery mushrooms, earthy kale, all tempered by a silky thyme and garlic broth.
If you want to make it a little richer then you can top bowls with little cubes of cheese to melt in. You could also add a splash of double cream at the same time as the kale.
Mushroom, Lentil & Kale Stew will be fine in the fridge for up to three days. I don’t recommend freezing it as this can affect the texture of the kale.
If you’ve made this easy, nutritious stew leave a comment to let me know what you thought – and don’t forget to rate the recipe.
Mushroom, Lentil & Kale Stew
Rich, thick, and tasty this easy vegetarian and vegan-adaptable stew is perfect on chilly days. Packed with veg and pulses in a lightly creamy, garlic and thyme broth.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 10 g butter see Recipe Note #1
- 1 large onion roughly chopped
- 2 sticks celery finely chopped
- salt & black pepper
- 300 g mushrooms sliced
- 1 medium potato, peeled or unpeeled diced small
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 3 tsp fresh thyme, leaves only or 1.5 tsp dried thyme
- 375 ml stock: vegetable or chicken see Recipe Note #2
- 375 ml milk see Recipe Note #2
- 250 g cooked brown lentils approx 1 standard tin, drained
- 200 g kale, shredded or roughly chopped (weight is after tough stems removed)
Instructions
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Put the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
When hot, add the onion and celery, season with a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper.
Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are starting to soften and colour (10 - 15 min).
-
Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until they are browned too (another 8 - 10 min: turn the heat up if necessary to brown them but remember to turn it back to medium again).
Add the potato, garlic and thyme then cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute: don't let the garlic burn.
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Pour in the stock and milk then stir well, making sure you scrape up any veg from the bottom of the pot.
Bring to a boil (putting a lid on will speed this up but be careful it doesn't boil over) then immediately turn the heat to low and simmer with the lid on for 5 minutes.
Stir in the lentils and simmer for 3 minutes more.
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Take the pan off the heat and very briefly whizz with a stick blender to puree just a little of the soup to thicken it.
Add the kale to the pan and continue cooking until done to your liking (5 - 10 min).
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Taste, add more salt and pepper if needed, and serve.
Can be stored in the fridge for 3 days. Freezing not recommended as it can adversely affect the texture of the kale.
Recipe Notes
Note #1 Plant based version. Replace the butter with a little more oil.
Note #2 Amount of liquid. This makes a thickish stew. If you'd prefer it thinner, add an extra 100-150 ml of stock, milk, or a combination of the two.
Note #3 Variations. The stew is lovely served with a sprinkle of diced cheese to melt in. For a richer taste, you can also add a few tablespoons of double cream at the same time as the kale.
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