Yummiest Cottage Pie!

I created this tonite after trawling online for a recipe on Cottage Pie. I guess we know that Shepherds Pie has lamb while Cottage Pie has beef, right?

Anyhow, we just loved it - I did some tweaking in the recipe which came from numerous sources online.

From Food Box
2 small onions, finely chopped
6 small carrots, chopped
4 med potatoes, peeled and cut
1 large orange sweet potato, peeled and cut
handful of mushrooms, chopped

From Pantry
1 beef stock cube in 1 cup hot water
Olive oil
salt & pepper
1 small satchel of tomato paste
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of oregano

From Fridge
500g beef mince (ground beef)
1 teaspoon of garlic 
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of Djion mustard
Butter
Milk
cheese (I used parmesan)
Frozen peas (I used about a cup)


To create
Potatoes and sweet potato in pot and bring to boil.
Heat oil in pan and saute in onion, carrot, mushrooms and garlic till all are soft.
Add mince and brown it.
Pour in stock, worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, cinnamon, and oregano.
Stir and add frozen peas, salt and pepper to taste.
Stir until all are combined.
Leave it simmer until the potato mash is done.
Mash both potatoes in until all blended.
Add warmed milk (I used less than 1/4 cup) and beat till smooth.
Add dollops of butter (to taste) and djion mustard.
Stir to combine.
Spray olive oil in casserole dish.
Pour in the mince mix and level it.
Put potato mash on top, do section by section so all are covered evenly.
Sprinkle cheese on top and add a couple of butter dollops.
Bake for half hour (30 mins) at 200 degrees C.
Serve and eat!

Roots Bake

I also served this along with Garden Brunch Bake with steaks/snags for the BBQ lunch with friends, and by the end of lunch, all were gone except for a couple of snags!

From Food Box

2 large potatoes

2 med parsnips

2 med swedes

1 med white sweet potato/kumera

From fridge

200ml single cream (I used leftover buttermilk from butter making other day)

105ml milk

75g grated cheddar cheese (I used a mixture of cheddar and pecorino cheese)

2 garlic cloves (being lazy, I just used the minced garlic in jar - organic Jensen's, of course)

From pantry

butter/olive oil for greasing

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg (I used half teaspoon powdered nutmeg)

sea salt and black pepper

To create

Peel all the vegies, and cut them into thin slices (I got the V-Slicer so it was a job done quicker). Place the sliced vegies into a steamer and steam till soft, approx 5 - 10 minutes and let it cool.

Meanwhile, put cream (buttermilk) and cream in a heavy pan, add garlic and bring to boil over a medium heat. Remove from heat and let stand to room temperature for about 10 minutes (this is to allow the flavour of garlic to infuse into the cream mixture).

Preheat oven to 180 degrees/160 degrees fan-forced. Have the shallow baking dish greased with butter or oil. Arrange the steamed sliced vegies in layers in the dish, sprinkle each layer with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Pour in the cream mixture in the dish and press down the vegies into the liquid.

Cover the dish with baking paper and bake for 45 minutes.

Then remove the baking paper from dish and sprinkle cheese over the vegies in an even layer.

Return the dish to the oven and bake uncovered for a further 20-30 minutes, or until the vegies are tender and the topping is golden brown.

Yum!

I tweaked this recipe from: the Organic Cookbook by Ysanne Spevack (Lorenz Books: 2006)

Darls' Stew

Tonite we had a delicious stew cooked by a slow cooker!

From Food box

5 carrots, peeled and cut thick

7 'small' potatoes, peeled and cut thick cubes

1 large onion, sliced thinly

2 cloves of garlic (I love garlic! so adjust to your taste)

From butcher

600 g chuck steak, cut in thick cubes

From fridge

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon of TB sauce

3/4 cup of vegie stock

From pantry

salt and pepper

2 teaspoons of tomato paste

1 can of chopped tomatoes (I used a flavoured one - herb and garlic)

olive oil to brown the onion and meat

To create

1. Brown both onion (with garlic) and meat then put in the slow cooker

2. Sprinkle the cubed potatoes on top

3. Sprinkle the chopped carrots over ensure its all distributed evenly

4. In a large measuring cup, mix stock, sauces, salt and pepper, tin of tomatoes and tomato paste

5. Pour the liquid over the top of carrots, ensure its covered everywhere

6. Put slow cooker at high for 5 to 6 hours or at medium for 6 to 7 hours

7. At 30 mins before done, stir through the stew and put in thawed frozen peas in.

8. Serve straight away with some bread (too much carbs I know, but it soaks up lovely!)

There were some leftovers, so I've freezed them for future meals.

Happy chowing!