Cottage pie veggie bake
Cottage pie or Sheppards pie is an age-old favourite in our home as far back as I can rememeber, and it needn’t be out of our recipe book now because it has meat. So I have altered it every so slightly making this a meat-less alternative and my children just love it. Actually I have to make two casserole dishes and freeze the one for next time (just in case).
Serves 6
2 tablespoons coconut oil for frying
1 red onion chopped finely
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons vegetable stock
1 x 400g can cannellini beans
1 x 400g can black beans
1 x 400g can red kidney beans
1 x 400g can butter beans
1 x packet Quorn mince (optional)
300ml home-made pasta sauce (see recipe in “Basics”)
fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
DUO POTATO MASH
4 large orange sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 2cm chunks
4 large potato, peeled and chopped into 2cm chunks
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon Mazina or Arrowroot powder
salt to taste
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180ËšC. Place two medium pots on stove and fill with boiling water. Place the sweet potato in the one and the other potato in the second pot. Bring both to a boil and allow the potatoes to cook until they are soft. Then turn off the heat and remove the water, mash the sweet potato with a tablespoon of butter and if there is too much water add the Mazina or Arrowroot powder to thicken the potato. Then season to taste and set aside. Follow the same guidelines for the white potato only after adding the butter then add one tablespoon of milk at a time until you have the consistency of mash. Don’t add too much milk at first or else the potato will be too runny. Set aside.
Place the coconut oil and chopped onion in a pan over a medium heat and stir until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and vegetable stock powder and stir. Lower the heat and decant the beans into a colander, rinse the beans well. If you are using the Quorn mince then add it now and combine with the onion mix. Allow to cook for a few minutes but do not let it burn. If it is starting to burn then add a 1/4 cup of boiling water to the mince and then add all the beans and the sauce. Slowly turn the beans to combine all the flavours but do not mix too much as this will destroy the beans and turn them to mush. Keep an eye on the mixture and make sure it isn’t too stodgy, if it looks like it may need a 1/2 glass more of boiling water than add some. Once this is done then remove from the heat and place into a casserole dish.
Layer the bottom of the casserole dish with the beans and mince mixture and then add the mashed potato. If you want to make a pattern with the duo potato mash, then you must - it makes the dish look so inviting. Then sprinkle the smoked paprika on top of the cottage pie and bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes. Then serve hot with fresh avocados, steamed broccoli and a side salad and enjoy!
