Hide the vegetables Cottage Pie

Cottage pie

Serve 6

Cottage Pie is a terrific one-dish dinner; it is the perfect place to hide the vegetables. It’s the perfect meal for a cold winter’s night.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 600g beef mince
• 1 can of Red Speckled beans
• 8 button mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 400g can peeled tomatoes
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano or mixed herbs
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1kg sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 50g margarine

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook the onion and carrot for five minutes or until soft. Add the mince, the beans and mushrooms and cook for three minutes or until mince is browned. Stir through the tomato paste, tomatoes, stock and herbs. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then uncover, and simmer for a further 15 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the peas and cook for another couple of minutes.
2. To make the potato topping, boil the potatoes in water until soft. Drain well and mash with margarine.
3. Pour the meat mixture into a 1L capacity ovenproof dish and top with the mash. Bake for 35 minutes or until the potato topping is golden brown.

• Put the potatoes on to boil before you make the mince.
• If you really need hide the vegetables, puree them and add them with the tomato puree.
• You can use any combination of vegetables, my family like peas and mushrooms.
• Grating baby marrow into the mix is a good alternative to onion when you are feeding a small toddler.
• Adding the beans bulks up the recipe and keeps everyone full for longer.