Spiced Cottage Pie

A slight twist to a traditional British dish, packed with comforting flavours. This ‘Cottage Pie’ is made with spiced minced beef with a covering of sweet and normal mashed potatoes.

Any green vegetables go well with this dish - leeks, peas, kale, cabbage. If you have fussy eaters you could easily hide some extra vegetables in the meat sauce - think small pieces of leek or celery, or grated carrot.

Skills Check

Follow a recipe; follow food safety and hygiene rules; tidy away; use a timer; use measuring spoons and cups; use a jug to measure liquids; cut using the bridge/claw knife technique safely; mash; use the hob/oven (with adult supervision); use a colander; season to taste.

Equipment

Chopping board, sharp knife, measuring cups and spoons, measuring jug, 2 saucepans, wooden spoon, colander, potato masher, spoons, spatula, table knife, baking dish.

Allergens

May contain Celery

(Please note the allergens listed are indicative only. Allergens vary depending on brand; check the labels on the products you use.)

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

• 400g 5% fat beef mince
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp garlic granules
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• Reduced salt beef stock cube/pot
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Salt/pepper
• 1 tbsp oil to cook
• 500g potatoes
• 500g sweet potatoes

Method

1. Prepare the ingredients. Peel and chop the onion and carrots, peel potatoes and sweet potatoes, cut into small chunks.
2. Place potatoes in pan of water and boil for 15-20 mins until soft.
3. Add 500 ml of boiling water to a jug and stir in beef stock cube/pot.
4. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the beef mince and break it up with a spatula or fork as it cooks. Cook for 4-5 mins until it start to go brown.
5. Add onions and carrots and cook for a further 3-4 minutes.
6. Add the lemon juice, garlic granules, curry powder and ginger and stir well to cover all of meat.
7. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato puree and stir again.
8. Add stock, stir and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes until it reduces.
9. When the potatoes are cooked, drain them in a colander.
10. Return to the pan, season if required and mash together.
11. Transfer the mince to an oven proof dish and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
12. Spread the potato mix evenly on top, making sure all corners and edges are covered.
13. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 180C. Serve with vegetables.

So thinking about spiced cottage pie ...

Beef mince is a great source of protein and iron, as well as some other vitamins and minerals; however it can also be high in fat so choose lean mince wherever possible.

Potatoes are a nutritious and filling starchy food; low in fat and a source of vitamin C and fibre.

Vegetables are so good for us! Low in fat, sugar and calories and high in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Nutritional Information

per 378g serving
% of an adult's reference intake
Typical values per 100g: Energy 426kJ / 101kcal

Notes

A traffic light system is used on nutrition labels to make it easier to see which foods and drinks are lower in calories, fat, sugar and salt. Try and choose more ‘greens’ and ‘ambers’ and fewer ‘reds’, and stick to smaller portions of ‘reds’.

Just because a recipe or a food has a red traffic light doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it. Understanding why a food or recipe might have a red light can be helpful. For example oily fish is high in total fat and so any recipe containing oily fish is likely to be ‘red’ for fat. But it is recommended that we eat oily fish at least once a week because the type of fat it contains is beneficial for our health.

% Reference Intakes are also shown. Reference Intakes are guidelines about the approximate amount of particular nutrients and energy required for a healthy diet (based on an average-sized woman doing an average amount of physical activity). Most children will require less than these Reference Intakes. The contribution of one serving of a food or drink to the Reference Intake for each nutrient is expressed as a percentage.