Comfort Cottage Pie

My family love pies. Pastry topped or potato topped, it just doesn't matter. It's all about taste and comfort. It's also down to our dreich Scottish weather. A salad just isn't so appealing on a cold, wet day.

This time I went for a rich vegan shepherd's pie topped with slices of potato instead of the mashed potato you usually find adorning them.

For extra flavour I added one of Schwartz Flavour Shots. Not tried them yet? Each pot contains a single use shot of herbs, spices and seasonings blended in sunflower oil, a nice natural way to add flavour and they are a great way to perk up the taste of a dish.

There are 8 varieties and each is for a particular meal, but I just have a look at the ingredients and pick the one I think will work best with my meal. For this pie I went for the Italian Creamy Herb Tagliatelle which contains onion, garlic, basil, oregano, parsley and rosemary.

So next time it's pouring down outside, whip up this easy shepherd's pie and watch your family smile as you pop it on the table in front of them.

Serve with extra vegetables to help reach that elusive 7-a-day.

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Comfort Cottage Pie

Written by Jacqueline Meldrum
 

May 17, 2014 

A rich and satisfying pie topped with sliced potato. Suitable for veggies and vegans.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 3 large carrots, chopped
• 4 large flat mushrooms, chopped
• 200g dried soya mince
• 2 pints vegetable stock (3 stock cubes)
• 1 Schwartz Flavour Shot (Italian Creamy Herb Tagliatelle)
• a good slug of red wine (optional)
• 3 tbsp HP brown sauce (or veggie Worcestershire sauce )
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• a good grinding of salt and pepper
• 3 potatoes
• a little oil for brushing

Instructions

1. In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes, add the carrots and cook until tender. 

2. Add the mushrooms and cook for another few minutes. Add the soya mince, give it a good mix in and then add the vegetable stock, wine & flavour shot. 

3. Cook down for 20 minutes and then add the HP sauce and tomato puree. 

4. Cook for a further 10 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Go easy on the salt as the stock can be quite salty.  

5. Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/GM6.

 6. Parboil the potatoes for 10 minutes. 

7. Spoon the savoury mine into an ovenproof dish and top with sliced potato. Brush the potato with a little oil and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the potato topping has turned golden. 

8. Enjoy!

Details

Total time: 90 mins 


Yield: Serves 4-6

Disclosure: This was a recipe commission from Schwartz. I was not expected to write a positive review and any opinions expressed are my own.