Cottage Pie (with short cut topping options)

You've probably gathered by now I love one pot style dishes and things that go in the freezer. This is another lean beef mince based one. Similarly to the Pasta Sauce the balance of meat to vegetables is up to you and its not an exact science recipe. Right, so for you none Anglo's out there Cottage pie is beef based, Shepard's pie is lamb based. Their are two possible cheats for the topping. One is to use store bought ready made mash potato. The other is to slice the potatoes dauphinoise style (skins on for fibre) and use the trusty microwave to cook them quickly. Be warned - you don't get a nice crunchy topping on this unless you add a sprinkle of cheese and toast it under the grill. If you have time then making your own mash for the top is the tastiest option.

A brief word on traditional cottage pie - its not very high in veggies, beef, carrot and onion only (occasionally celery). As I like to do a meal in one and get as much good stuff into my kids as possible mine has a lot more than you might expect - maybe I should call it 'pretend cottage pie'. Here is a fabulous traditional cottage recipe.

Ingredients
One packet of lean beef mince
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic (I use a dollop of easy garlic)
Vegetables such as carrots, peppers, courgettes, sweetcorn, peas, french beans - chopped quite finely
Stock cube (low salt or half if for small children)
2 tablespoons of tomato purée
Glug of olive oil

3 x teaspoons of gravy powder
Pepper

For topping - either 3 medium sized potatoes washed and thinly sliced, one container of ready made mash or your own mash potatoes (approx 4 peeled, boiled, knob of marg or butter, splash of milk, mashed and seasoned).

For a more grown up version add a glug of red wine, splash of Worcester sauce or even a bit of chilli to deepen the seasoning. If serving with side dishes then go for the more traditional recipe.

Method
Put the mince into a large pan, separating the strands with a fork so you avoid large lumps of mince. Cook until brown then drain the fat off, leaving the mince in the pan.
Chop the onion, and chosen vegetables. Put in a microwaveable dish, add roughly a cm of water to the bottom of your container and cook in the mic until soft. We like our veggies slightly crunchy.
Add the stock cube, garlic, olive oil and tomato purée to the pan and stir.

Layered sliced top

Once cooked add the vegetables (and their cooking water) and stir. Mix the gravy powder with a small amount of hot water to make a paste and stir in. You might want to add some hot water to loosen the sauce if its too thick. Cook through together until all warmed through. Prepare you potato topping. Don't forget to microwave the potato slices until cooked if using that option. 

At this stage you make several small pies or one large one. I like a deep dish (see photo), traditionally a large shallow, oblong roaster is popular. Serve out at least 3cms depth of the base and then add your potato topping, making sure is even. I use a fork to give the mashed potato a decorative finish that crunches up in the oven (photo to follow next time I make it with mash).

This can then be eaten immediately or cooled and then warmed up in the over later (the best tasting by far as the flavours really deepen).  Its easily frozen once cooled.

Maraccroni and Cheese (with panchetta and tomatoes)

Any form of pasta is popular with Junior Gingerbreads. Any form of healthy yet swift food that can be made in advance and batch baked is also popular with me. Mac and Cheese falls into this category. Unfortunately it's also rather bland and stodgy if done badly. So I messed with it, and now do it in a similar way that I do cauliflower cheese. Some pancetta, fresh tomatoes, a healthy dose of seasoning later we have a more flavoursome dish. I also use chick peas, as you know if you read my blog regularly, I'm a fan of slipping pulses into dishes to boost the fibre and iron content. I usually serve this with green beans or peas. For grown ups a green salad balances out the carb and fat guilt.

Ingredients
500g packet of tubular pasta
1 pint (570ml) of cheese sauce*
10 halved cherry tomatoes or 4 chopped salad tomatoes
Packet of chopped pancetta or  3 rashers of chopped un-smoked bacon
Half a tin of chic peas (rinsed in fresh water)
Garlic (to taste)
Pepper
1 slice of toast, grated into breadcrumbs
Grated cheese for topping (25g)
Glug of Worcester sauce

I love basil so I like a generous helping freshly chopped on the top just before serving.

*the cheese sauce can be from granules or you can make your own. The better quality the cheese the tastier the overall dish.

Method
Cook the pasta as per instructions on the packet.
Make your cheese sauce, add the chopped garlic, pepper & Worcester sauce.
Prepare the tomatoes and mix with pancetta cubes.
Add the chick peas whole, or if you want to hide them mash gently with a fork first.
Drain the pasta and mix it with pancetta and tomatoes in a bowl. Stir in the sauce.
Spoon into an oven proof dish.
Sprinkled the grated toast and cheese over the top.
Bake in the over on 160c for 20 minutes. This cooks the pancetta and tomatoes through, melts the cheese on top into the breadcrumbs, yet doesn't' burn or dry it out.

This can go straight onto the table or once cooled spooned into containers and frozen.

Favourite Pasta Sauce

I batch cook this for the Junior Gingerbreads all the time. Its great with any type of pasta, even a jacket potato at a push. It's a freezer favourite - divided up into containers and frozen its easy to defrost, warm through and you have an instant low maintenance dinner. This isn't an exact science recipe, the balance of meat to vegetables is entirely up to you. Its a great way of using up veggies if they are reaching the end of their use. Lean mince, draining the fat, and microwaving the veggies instead of frying them, lowers the fat considerably. Grated cheese on the top is tasty (raising the fat again). I've probably shared this elsewhere, I cook up a batch of red lentils and freeze in ice cube size portions. Popping a couple into this sauce raises the iron levels, adds more fibre and they are completely hidden.

Ingredients
One packet of lean beef mince
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic (I use a dollop of easy garlic)
Vegetables such as carrots, peppers, courgettes, sweetcorn, peas, french beans - chopped quite finely
Stock cube (low salt or half if for small children)
2 x tins of chopped plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato purée
Glug of olive oil
Pepper

For a more grown up version add a glug of red wine, splash of Worcester sauce or even a bit of chilli to deepen the seasoning.  Just throwing this out there - I have a friend with a sweet tooth and she adds a little sugar (half a teaspoon) if the tomatoes are too tart to her pasta sauce. Its still healthier than a bought jar of sauce and gets her kids to eat it.

Method
Put the mince into a large pan, separating the strands with a fork so you avoid large lumps of mince. Cook until brown then drain the fat off, leaving the mince in the pan.
Chop the onion, and chosen vegetables. Put in a microwaveable dish, add roughly a cm of water to the bottom of your container and cook in the mic until soft. We like our veggies slightly crunchy.
Add the tomatoes, stock cube, garlic, olive oil and tomato purée to the pan and stir.
Once cooked add the vegetables (and their cooking water) and stir. You might want to add some hot water to loosen the sauce if its too thick. Cook through together until all warmed through.
Decant into small containers, label and once cooled freeze.