At the weekends I love to spend time in the kitchen experimenting with ingredients. Recently my husband Howard and son Ted really wanted a cottage pie for dinner. I had lots of mince beef in the freezer so I was quite happy to cook this dish. I didn’t tell Howard and Ted that I had decided to make this dish into a spicy cottage pie. Nowadays I love to add different herbs and spices to our meal.
Ginger and turmeric are two spices that have been extensively studied. They have both been used for centuries to treat a variety of different alignments including migraines and fatigue. These spices are grown and widely used in south east asia. They have been used for centuries in natural medicine. Turmeric contains carcumin that has been proven to treat chronic conditions and ginger is often used in Ayurvedic (Indian) medicine. These two spices I used in this dish. I’m so pleased I did as not only are they superfoods they made this dish super tasty.
Do you love adding spices to your dinners and if so which one? Let me know in the comments below and please don’t forget to like and follow me.
Serves 4
Equipment needed
- Sharp Knife
- Chopping board
- Large saucepan
- Frying pan
- Plastic brush
- Vegetable peeler
- Potato masher
- Colander
- Slotted spoon
- Teaspoon
- Tablespoon
Ingredients
- Mince Beef x 500g
- Sweet potato x 1kg
- Bone broth or vegetable stock x 500mls
- Tomato puree or homemade tommy k x 1 tbsp
- Brown rice flour or corn flour x 1 tbsp
- Fresh ginger x 2 inch piece
- Fresh turmeric x 2 centimetre piece (if not, fresh then dried 2 teaspoons)
- Garlic x 2 – 4 cloves
- Ground cinnamon x 1 tsp
- Mild, medium or hot chilli powder x 1 tsp
- Onions x 2
- Carrots x 2
- Butternut squash x 1 small
- Courgette x 1
- Yellow pepper x 1
- Green beans x 200g (Frozen or Fresh)
- Dried mixed herbs x 1 tsp
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Olive oil for the frying pan
- A couple of nobs of unsalted butter or more olive oil
- Milk of your choice x 100mls
Method
- Start by peeling the carrots and butternut squash.
- Cut these vegetables into small cubes. (I chop them this small to try and hide them from my son.)
- Next peel and slice the onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, courgette and pepper.
- Put the frying pan on a medium to high heat.
- Drizzle the olive oil over the base of the pan and spread evenly with a plastic brush.
- Once the pan is hot add the onions and fry until translucent.
- Add in the garlic, ginger and turmeric and fry for a further few minutes.
- Add in the mince beef and flour.
- Fry until the beef is browned.
- Sprinkle over the ground cinnamon, mild, medium or hot chilli powder and the dried mixed herbs.
- Then add rest of the vegetables, leaving the green beans to one side and fry for a further two minutes.
- Pour in the bone broth, add the tomato puree or tommy k, bring to the boil and leave to simmer.
- While the meat mixture simmers, add in the green beans.
- Meanwhile peel and chop the sweet potatoes into quarters.
- Put the large saucepan on a high heat with water and bring to the boil.
- Add the potatoes to the boiling water and leave to boil for 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, remove them from the heat and pour into the colander.
- Once the water is drained, return the potatoes to the pan.
- Either add the olive oil and milk or a nob or two of butter and milk.
- Then mash until the lumps are gone.
- Remove the pie filling from the heat and using the slotted spoon put the meat and vegetables into the pie dish leaving the gravy in the pan.
- Next spread the mash as evenly as possible on top of the filling.
- Place in the oven for 25 – 30 mins or until the top is golden brown.
- Meanwhile check on the gravy and add more stock and flour is needed.
- Leave it on a low heat to simmer until the cottage pie is cooked.
- Once cooked, serve, add the gravy and enjoy.
Spicy Cottage Pie with Sweet Potato Mash was a big hit in our house. To be honest I don’t think Howard and Ted noticed the spices I added to this dish. Well, not much anyway. The dish is great to batch cook and store in the freezer for another occasion. You could just make the meat filling and put that in the deep freeze. Then on the day of cooking make the mash. Alternatively you could make double and freeze it. The meal also makes brilliant leftovers too. It could also be made with white potatoes as well. However you decide to eat this dish, as always, please enjoy. Thank you xxx
Googies Kitchen Life 