A twist on a traditional cottage pie

Cottage Pie

Hello there , I know two days of no writing, shame on me. So this was Saturday's dinner for us. I try to enjoy the most of the weekend family fun. As normally my man is at work. The kids love it when he's around.He was an angle he chopped ready all the vegetables for me, and try get the kid helping as well .

Well I said a twist on the pie, it's nothing too big , but you all now kids and vegetables are not best of friends. So I try to put as many veggies in as I can possibly find in my fridge.
It won't really taste any different and you have them all in there ;) I find it a good cheat .


Total time: 1hr 30 mins
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 1hr
Serves 4-5

Ingredients

1 big carrot
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 celery sticks
500g of mince
a pinch of cinnamon
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 Tbsp tomatoes puree'
seasoning
1 Tbsp plain flour
1 vegetable stock
1 spring thyme (leaves picked)
Worcester sauce
olive oil

For the mash

6 potatoes
1/4 of a cauliflower
2/3 parsnips
2 knobs of butter
1 Tbsp horseradish
150ml of milk
Paprika
Parmesan
rosemary
seasoning




I always start with chopping all the vegetables and get all the things ready out on the bench . So it's all easy to reach. I find it easy that way and I don't forget to add anything. As I have a short memory and easily distracted. I have quite a handful my two little monkey's.

When the chopping is nicely done, boil a kettle and pour into a pot so u can put in the potatoes, cauliflower and parsnips . Put a lid on and leave to boil while u can start the sauce.
Crack the oven on 180 degrees.
Meanwhile heat up some oil in a pan . Get your vegetables cote the well in the oil and and start frying them gently , until soft for about 5 mins. Or until you think they are soft enough. Inn with the mince and brown all over, Stir in the picked leaves of thyme and a pinch of cinnamon for a minute and a nice good splash of Worcester sauce. Leave until it reduces by half and add the flour . Stir the flour well before u add the stock , chopped tomatoes and the puree'.Add the seasoning and the sugar. (this helps to lower the acidity of the tomatoes) Bring to boil and leave to simmer for 10-15 mins uncovered.

In the meantime your potatoes are nice and soft. Drain and bring back to the pot. In with the butter and mash it all up, add your milk little by little as you don't want it too creamy your mash. Otherwise it won't hold properly on your sauce. When it 's to your desire add the horseradish to give it a little kick.

You can now start assembling your pie. Your sauce should be nice and thick by now so you can pour it in the base of an oven dish. Make sure the dish is big enough to hold your pie. Leave the sauce to cool a little bit before you cover with your  mash. About 10 minutes. Spread the mash out evenly and cover with Parmesan ( I try to leave my mash all rocky so that the tips go more brown and crunchy) . sprinkle over some paprika and seasoning and prick some rosemary in the mash, so that it gives out some flavor while baking in the oven.
Leave to cool for a while at least 10 mins , so that you can cut out some nice portions, and enjoy .
Put in the oven for about 25 minutes or until nice and brown on top.