I found a similar recipe online that was more about the onion (using 4 large onions!) I scaled back the onion and changed some other parts of the recipe because, for me, the lentils are the most important part!
Lentils are a great powerhouse of nutrition. 100g of lentils has 9g of protein and 20g of carb - 7.9g of which is dietary fibre and only 1.8g being sugars. They are also high in iron, with that 100g delivering 18% of your recommended daily amount.
This recipe uses buckwheat as a kind of risotto ingredient. It is another good source of fibre and has 3.4g of protein per 100g. You could equally use brown rice here, or even pearl barley! It is kind of a baked risotto.
Ingredients
3 cloves garlic, minced
150g buckwheat
100g green lentils
800ml veggie stock
Couple of sprigs of fresh thyme (or tsp of dry)
80g Italian style hard cheese, grated
Put an oven-safe, hob-safe casserole (Dutch oven works great) on the hob at medium high heat and add a couple of glugs of olive oil. Add the onions and sauté for several minutes until they are translucent. Add in the garlic and sauté for one minute more, until the harsher garlic smell has gone. Stir in the buckwheat and lentils and then add the thyme sprigs and the stock.
Season with black pepper. You could add some salt, but taste first in case your stock is salty. Put the lid on your casserole and pop it into a preheated 190C oven.
After 20 minutes, get the casserole out and give it a stir. If it seems like it is very dry, add a few dashes of boiling water. Pop it back in the oven for about 15/20 minutes.
Remove the lid and check the lentils and buckwheat, which should both be soft, though with some texture. Taste for seasoning. If it needs some salt add it now and stir well in.
Sprinkle on the cheese and pop it under a hot grill until the cheese has started to brown.
This would be great with some steamed tender-stem broccoli.