0 Beef and Vegetable Cottage Pie topped with Rosemary Crushed Potatoes

A perfect dish for a Sunday tea or a a busy weeknight when you can't be bothered cooking, it has the perfect combination of roast crispy potatoes and cottage pie filling and the good news is that the vegetables are in the pie. 

The topping is inspired by Casa pie from Vanessa Kimbell's "Prepped" book and is something that I use a lot instead of mash to top fish pie and also chilli and bolognaise. Its an easy no fuss dish which freezes beautifully so you can batch make and the pie filling can also be used in pastry pies as well.

Its a pretty frugal dish too as you can use frozen vegetables in the meat filling and the herbs are from the garden plus  its also gluten free as well as I have used cornflour to thicken the gravy. Its a great way of adding more vegetables to your diet without really noticing and also for upping the fibre content of cottage pie as the crushed potatoes are still in their skins.

What you need

• Small washed new potatoes boiled until just cooked - halved if large
• Rapeseed oil
• Fresh rosemary- leaves removed and chopped finely
• Minced steak
• White onion - finely chopped into half moons
• Beef stock ( I use essential cuisine)
• Cornflour
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh thyme - leaves finely chopped
• Parsley - finely chopped
• Carrots - peeled and diced, or you could use frozen
• Peas - I used a good handful of frozen petit pois
• Tomato ketchup (ensure gluten free if necessary)

What you do

• Firstly heat a little oil in a large frying pan and saute the sliced onions until translucent 
• Now add the mince to the pan and fry off golden and well coloured
• Now add the thyme, parsley and a tbsp of tomato sauce to the pan along with enough beef stock to cover the meat, stir and then add the diced carrot to the pan.
• Simmer for 20 minutes until the meat is cooked and the carrot tender through, now using a little water to slake the cornflour and use to thicken the gravy. 
• Add the frozen peas to the meat mixture and place in ovenproof dishes 
• Top the pie mixture with the small potatoes crushing them slightly using your thumbs , sprinkle with the chopped rosemary and drizzle with a little rapeseed oil
• Bake in the oven at 180c for 40 minutes until the top is golden and crispy and the filling bubbling.
• Serve immediately

I'm linking this recipe up to extra veg created by Utterly Scrummy and Fuss Free Flavours and hosted by Elizabeths Kitchen this month.

We are also linking up to Credit Crunch Munch, created by Fab Food for all and Fuss Free Flavours hosted this month over at Maison Cupcake.

                                         

Detail: Beef and Vegetable Cottage Pie topped with Rosemary Crushed Potatoes

0 Wild garlic mash topped cottage pie - a English classic

It finally seems to be Spring here in Lancashire and the ramsons (wild garlic) is popping up in the hedgerow, later this week it St Georges Day, a celebration of all things English. So here's my contribution an English classic updated with a great foraged ingredient, the wild garlic mildly fragrances the mash and adds to the intense savouriness of the dish. Its also British Beef week as well and my cottage pie uses quality British steak mince as its base.

Ingredients

• British minced steak
• Onion
• Beef stock ( I used essential cuisine)
• Brown sauce / caramelised onion chutney
• Freshly chopped parsley - fine
• Slaked cornflour or gravy thickner (bisto or similar)
• White potatoes
• Butter
• Wild Garlic - chopped finely

Method

• Firstly make your mash in the usual way by boiling your peeled potatoes until soft, for the last few minutes of cooking add your wild garlic to soften.
• Once cooked drain through a sieve so as not to loose your wild garlic, add a good quantity of butter and mash until you have no lumps. Set aside.
• Dry fry the mince in a large frying pan, until all coloured, now add the onion to the pan and cook using the fat that has come from the mince until slightly softened.
• Add the beef stock to the pan until the meat mixture is just covered and simmer for 10 -15 minutes until the onions are soft, the meat is cooked and the gravy a little reduced, now add the gravy thickener to achieve the thickness of gravy you desire.
• Pour the meat mixture into the dish you wish to bake it in, leave to cool for 10 minutes or so and then top with the wild garlic mash, leave your pie craggy so that when it bakes it has some lovely crispy bits.
• Place on an oven tray and bake for 35-45 minutes at 180c until golden and bubbling
• Serve with any side vegetable to your hungry family.

Detail: Wild garlic mash topped cottage pie - a English classic