Kitchen Diary

It was back to winter again briefly yesterday with bucketing rain and freezing cold north westerly gales driving the rain in everywhere. On days like this I just love spending time in my little kitchen. It gets all steamy, warm and cozy in there and the wonderful smells wafting up from the gently bubbling pots on the stove envelope me in an aromatic fog. Nothing better on a cold day!! Earlier in the day m lovely neighbour returned from hospital after undergoing knee replacement surgery so I decided that I would make a love meal to welcome her back home and to help out a little bit. Seeing as Mr Neighbour is a vegetarian I decided to do a comforting garden cottage pie using pulses and vegetables for the filling. While I was doing that my hubby, who declares that he has got to have meat, rushed out and bought some mince and more potatoes so that he too could have his own cottage pie for supper So I really did end up cooking up a storm!

Here is my delicious garden cottage pie…..so so delicious that the declared meat eater announced, on tasting, that he too would’ve eaten it with gusto!! Grrrr….gotta love that man!

GARDEN COTTAGE PIE – A VEGETARIAN TAKE ON AN OLD FAVOURITE

Serves 4 hungry souls

FOR THE FILLING:

30mls Olive Oil

15ml Butter

1 Large Onion – peeled and finely chopped

1 Red Or Yellow Pepper – seeds removed and finely chopped

1 Stick Celery – finely chopped

100g Button Mushrooms – wiped clean and finely chopped

2 Medium Carrots – peeled and finely chopped

1/2 Butternut – peeled and finely diced (make sure all your veg are the same size dice)

2 Garlic Cloves – peeled and finely grated

1/2 Red Chilli – seeds removed and finely chopped

1 Can Lentils – drained and rinsed

1 Can 4 Bean Mix – drained and rinsed (use cannelini or red kidney beans if preferred)

125ml Passata – use 1/2 can chopped tomatoes if preferred

500ml Vegetable Stock – NoMU has a fabulous one

5ml Dried Thyme

5ml Dried Oregano

5ml Ground Coriander

2.5ml Ground Cinnamon

Freshly ground Black Peppercorns  – to taste

Salt – to taste

10ml Sugar

FOR THE TOPPING:

4 Large Potatoes – peeled and cut into pieces

2 Large Sweet Potatoes  – peeled and cut into pieces

Olive Ol

Milk

Ground White Pepper

METHOD:

Chop and dice all your vegetables first and set aside ready to use. Drain lentils and beans and rinse under running water in a sieve. Set aside. Have all your spices and herbs to hand so that that you don’t have to run back and forth looking for ingredients. This makes it all so much easier when you have quite a few ingredients for a recipe.

Preheat oven to 200deg Celcius

Spray a medium sized rectangular or round deep casserole dish

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat then saute the onion, celery and red pepper until limp and translucent.

Add the garlic, chilli, herbs and spices and stir fry for one minute

Add the rest of the vegetables and stir to coat with the spicy oily mixture

Add the remainder of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until all the excess liquid has evaporated and the veggies are all cooked through

Meanwhile boil the potatoes and sweet potatoes in lightly salted water until softened. Drain and mash well with a drizzle of olive oil and some milk and a sprinkle of white ground pepper (my secret ingredient to very good mash!)

Once the filling is done place it all into the bottom of the casserole dish, filling it up about 3/4 the way up.

Top with the mashed potatoes and swirl attractively with a fork.

Optional extra is to sprinkle some grated parmesan or cheddar cheese on top.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes until bubbling and golden on top.

Serve with extra veggies or a garden salad.

The beauty of this meal is that you can add in more veggies or take out whatever you dont want to use. It really is entirely up to what you have in your fridge and store cupboard at the time. You can add frozen corn and peas as well for more variety if desired. The addition of some curry paste and ginger lifts it to another dimension entirely

Enjoy….just in time for Meatless Monday!

browniegirl xx

Footnote: I was very fortunate to be chosen as the winner in the Battle of the Scanpans Competition run by Banks Kitchen Shop. Included in the prize, together with a Scanpan frying pan and saucepan (which I love because it has pouring spouts on both sides….a real boon for a south paw like myself) was a stunning Scanpan chefs knife which I used with great glee to chop chop chop up all my veggies in no time! Thank you Banks for my awesome prize. And using the knife sharpener (that came with the knife) every day ensures that my knife stays honed and ready!!

3 y/o Jay admiring my Scanpan Hamper and asking if he can cook with me!