Tomatoe-y Cottage Pie

If you find yourself lacking in some of the ingredients necessary to make a traditional cottage pie, why not change it to something new with the ingredients you do have, give it an Italian twist.

Ingredients:

For the tomato-beef:

1 onion

1 chilli

1 tsp Italian herbs

1 pack minced beef

1 can red kidney beans

2 tsp vegetable stock powder

4 chopped fresh tomatoes

1 small tub of tomato paste

A cup of dry red wine

2 orange/ red peppers

1 small tub of yellow baby tomatoes

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

For the potato topping:

5 medium potatoes

Boiling water

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 c milk

For the sauce:

1 tsp Italian herbs

1 tbsp butter

2 tsp fresh garlic, grated

1/2 milk

Salt to taste

2 tsp flour

A half-palm sized piece of cheese, preferably Italian

Method:

The topping:

Wash and peel 5 medium potatoes. Take out all the eyes, but don't use them if they are green as this means that they have become poisonous and should not be eaten! Put them in a pan with boiling water covering them and add some salt. Cook for 20min, or until soft, and almost breaking. Drain them and add a sprinkle of pepper.

Mash them with 1/2 c milk until fluffy. If you have added to much milk, put the potatoes on the heat until they have sucked up all the liquid.

Tomatoe-y Beef:

Chop and fry 1 onion, 1 chilli in a little oil and add 1 tsp dried Italian herbs. Add in your pack of minced beef (or ostrich if you prefer) and keep stirring it until it's all broken up into small pieces (otherwise the protein will all cook together into one big gross lump). Sprinkle over 2 tsp vegetable stock powder - you can taste it towards the end to see if you need to add extra salt or not. Add in the drained kidney beans. While this is all frying on a high heat, you will need to add some moisture: 4 chopped fresh tomatoes, 1 small tub of tomato paste, a cup of dry red wine and 2 finely chopped orange/ red peppers. By this time your meat should no longer be pink at all. Let this cook for a few minutes with the lid on, maybe 10 minutes, then while you are getting the below ready, let it reduce so that there is no more liquid left at the bottom of the pan.

Wash the small tub of yellow baby tomatoes and put them in a hot frying pan over a high heat. Add the following after about 2 minutes: 2tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and let it cook until sticky. Keep the tomatoes whole.

Sauce:

Melt 1 tbsp butter with 1/2 milk over a medium heat and add in 2 tsp fresh garlic, grated. Add a sprinkle of salt to taste. Get 1 tsp flour and sprinkle over your mixture while stirring it in slowly- avoid making lumps.

Final Steps:

Sprinkle 1 tsp flour over the bottom of your casserole dish (to suck up additional moisture) and scoop in the beef and then the baby tomatoes. If you have fresh basil, you can put a layer of leaves between the beef and tomatoes. Next, scoop in your mashed potatoes and smooth it over the other ingredients. Pour over your sauce and sprinkle with your cheese and 1 tsp Italian herbs. I only had Young Amsterdam and I didn't grate it finely - it was delicious just like that.

Put this under the grill for 10 minutes, or until the cheese starts browning and bubbling and enjoy with a fresh rocket and spinach salad drizzled with olive oil.