Basic Lent meal prepared by English (9)
I believe the answer is:
elemental
'basic' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'lent meal prepared by english' is the wordplay.
'prepared' is an anagram indicator.
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'lent'+'meal'='lentmeal'
'lentmeal' is an anagram of 'lemental'.
'lemental' put after 'e' is 'ELEMENTAL'.
(Other definitions for elemental that I've seen before include "Of basic importance" , "key" , "Nature spirit" , "Of nature's powers" , "Basic, rudimentary" .)