As someone who loves beef and potatoes, I can tell you that this dish combines them in an amazingly delicious way. Moreover, it has some veggies too so that you don’t feel bad about eating the carbs. Let’s see how it’s made.
List of ingredients
1 lb. minced beef
2 tbsps. plain flour
1 beef stock cube
2 tbsps. Worcestershire sauce
2 celery sticks
2 red peppers
2 tsps. dried oregano
2 garlic cloves
1 oz. melted butter
1 ½ lbs. white potatoes
2 tbsps. olive oil
1 red onion
1 courgette
1 big carrot
There are plenty of veggies here, thus making the cottage pie a balanced meal for a healthy person. The ingredients are measured for 6 servings. A single serving has 404 calories, which is not great if you are trying to lose weight. Also, people with diabetes should weigh their portions and should avoid the potatoes on top. Use less butter and more veggies if you have heart disease.
Instructions
Boil the potatoes for 15 minutes without peeling them beforehand. Drain the water and let them cool until you can touch them with your bare hands. Now, peel the skins and grate the potatoes into a big bowl.
Peel the onion, the courgette and the carrot before chopping them roughly. Chop the peppers too. Peel the garlic and then crush it. Add all the vegetables in a large frying pan together with the oregano and the garlic. Cook this mixture on medium heat for 15 minutes until you notice that the vegetables are getting soft. Put the veggies aside in a bowl for later use.
Place the pan back on the heat and add the minced beef. Stir with a wooden spoon and gradually add the flour after the meat becomes brown over high heat. Stir continuously while adding the flour and let the mix cook for 2 more minutes before you add the veggies back to the frying pan. This time, put the Worcestershire sauce, about 500ml of water, the beef stock cube and bring to a boil. At this point, you should reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 40 minutes. Add spices until you enjoy the taste.
It’s time for step 2 of the process. Transfer the entire mixture into a baking dish and put the grated potatoes on top evenly. Brush them with the melted butter and add salt and pepper. Put the dish in the preheated oven and let it bake for 25 minutes until you notice bubbles and the potatoes become golden.
The dish is best served with buttered greens if you like and it can be frozen for later consumption up to 3 months. The first step is to let the food cool completely. Then, you put it into an airtight container that can be frozen safely. The best way to defrost a cottage pie is to leave it overnight in the fridge in order to re-heat it afterward in the oven until it becomes very hot. Tip: cover the dish with foil for best results.
