Vegetable Cottage Pie

Vegetable cottage pie

A hearty a wholesome meal for all the family to enjoy. You can also freeze in individual portions so you have a delicious meal on hand when you’re short of time or energy.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

Mash - 

6 Maris piper potatoes

1 large sweet potato

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any plant based milk)

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Optional:

1 tablespoon butter or vegan butter

Filling:

2 spring onions (green part only)

1/4 stick of celery 

2 large carrots - grate one and roughly chop the other

2 parsnips - grate one and roughly chop the other

Herbs to taste - Rosemary, Thyme, Sage - I use fresh but dry will work beautifully. If using dry use about 1/3 of a teaspoon of each. 

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon miso paste (you can leave this out or substitute with tamari) 

1 tablespoon tomato purée

A good pinch of black pepper

2 cups vegetable stock - I use homemade or Fody foods

Mince options:

2 cups meat substitute mince of your choice e.g. Quorn vegan mince

Or

1 can of brown or green cooked lentils (1/4 to 1/2 cup serving of canned lentils should be tolerable for most people with IBS.)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200°C

Peel and chop all of the potatoes into rough 2cm chunks. Place into a large pan of cold salted water over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes or until completely soft.

Drain and leave to steam dry, then return to the pan with the almond milk, nutritional yeast, butter/vegan butter a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Mash until smooth, then set aside.

Finely slice the spring onion and celery, then grate and chop the carrots and parsnips.

Add a drizzle of garlic infused olive oil to a frying pan over a medium heat add the spring onion, rosemary, thyme leaves, bay leaves and sage, cook out for a minute or so then add the miso paste and the rest of the veg with a dash of water then cook for around 5 minutes, or until slightly softened.

Add your ‘mince’ option of choice, the tomato purée and stir through and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the veg stock, bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and allow the liquid to reduce and thicken for appox 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking.

Season to taste, remove the bay leaves then transfer to a baking dish. Spread the mash over the top, then scuff it up with a fork to create grooves that will catch and become golden and crispy.

Place in the hot oven for around 25 - 30 minutes, or until piping hot and turning beautifully crisp and golden brown on top.

Serve with seasonal greens.