Four fasting days until Christmas and knitting shoulder

To add to all the stress of Christmas, I am now suffering from 'knitting shoulder.' I am trying to revive knittygritty as a new year plan but I have fallen at the first stitch, with an aching shoulder. I think I'll have to think this out again. Most just have 'tennis elbow' but the swimming helps. I am also trying to learn how to swim underwater without disturbing the sleeping lifeguards with all that splashing.



Quiet old day in Brighton this morning, no idea where the sea ends and the sky begins. Totally becalmed sea and a bit of fairy liquid where the waves should be.



The best vegetarian cottage pie

Comfort food isn’t only for meat-eaters. And veggie food isn’t only for vegetarians. This has all the flavour to convert carnivores: the super-tasty mash topping and rich filling make it the kind of dish you’ll cook over and over again. If you have them, add 15g dried, pre-soaked porcini mushrooms (39 cals) to the other mushrooms to add even more savoury, earthy tastes.

SERVES 4
Calories per serving: 272
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
1-cal cooking spray
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped 38 cals
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped 68 cals
2 sticks celery, finely chopped 12 cals
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 8 cals
200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced 26 cals
3 sprigs fresh thyme,
2 fresh bay leaves
300g pre-cooked or tinned green or Puy lentils 200 cals
200ml hot vegetable stock 8 cals
200g baby spinach leaves, chopped 50 cals
2 tsp mushroom ketchup 15 cals

FOR THE TOPPING
650g peeled floury potatoes, chopped into
even-sized pieces 552 cals
2 tbsp half-fat crème fraîche 52 cals
1 tsp Dijon mustard 5-10 cals
2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk 14 cals
1 leek, finely sliced 40 cals

● Spray a large nonstick saucepan with 1-cal cooking spray. Add the onion, carrots and celery, season with salt and pepper and fry over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add a splash of water to help them steam.
● Stir in the garlic and mushrooms, turn up the heat and cook for about 4 minutes.
● Add the thyme, bay leaves, lentils and stock and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the spinach and mushroom ketchup and leave for 2 minutes, until wilted.
● While the lentils are cooking, tip the potatoes for the topping into a pan of salted water and boil for about 15 minutes until tender. Drain well, then mash with the crème fraîche, mustard and milk, and season well.
● Steam the leek over a pan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes until tender and then stir into the mash.
● Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. To assemble the pie, spoon the lentil mixture into a 1-litre ovenproof dish and top with the mash. Bake for 30 minutes, until piping hot throughout and the topping is golden brown.




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