Cottage Pie

Posted by tyan (Singapore, Singapore) on 23 September 2007 in Food & Cuisine.

My sister gave me a wonderful recipe book for my birthday present this year and today i finally made my first dish from the book, 'Cooking with Daisy' by Josie Klafkowska.

The inspiration for this book was a young girl called Daisy who loved her food and was a wonderful little cook. She died suddenly at the age of 18 months and this book,written by her mother, is a tribute to little Daisy. It is packed with recipes donated by parents and celebrities.

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So here we go:
Cottage Pie
A classic recipe that has all the ingredients for a complete meal: protein(beef), carbohydrate(potato),and vegetables(carrots,peppers,tomatoes,leek,onions)

Can be given to babies from 8 months onwards.

Prep:30 min
Cooking:25 min

What you need:
450g minced beef
1 kg potatoes
1 medium red onion
3 carrots
1 leek
1 medium pepper,red or green
6-8 mushrooms
400g chopped tomatoes
olive oil for cooking
half cup vegetable stock
milk and butter for mashing
grated cheese for topping(optional)
salt and pepper if desired

1) Set oven to 200 deg c(fan 180 deg c). Peel and roughly chop the potatoes and put them to boil for 20 minutes

2) While they are cooking,finely chop all the other vegetables. Warm a lttle olive oil in a frying pan,stir in and add the onions, carrots, leek, and pepper. Stir fry for 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and keep stirring for 2-3 mintues more. Remove the vegetalbe sfrom the pan and place to one side.

3) Heat a little more oil in pan and add the minced beef,moving it around with a wooden spoon to break up the lumps and to ensure that it browns evenly.

4) Once it reaches this stage, add the vegetalbes to the meat along with the tomatoes. Sprinle the vegetable stock(i use the stock i cook weekly for children,consistin of corn,carrot,tomatoes,pork and chicken bones)

Stir and simmer for 5 minutes. While the mince is simmering, you can mash te potatoes, adding milk and butter to your own preferred consistency and seasoning to taste.

5) Place the mince mixture in a suitable ovenproof dish and cover mince wiht mashed potatoes. Grated some cheese over the top if you wish to give it a delicious crispy cheesey topping. Cook in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Onced cooked, the cottage pie can be served as it is or pureed to your desired consistency.

I blended the cottage pie in an electric chopper and gave it to Ian,who is 8 months now. I should have taken a picture of his what-are-you-giving-me-mom??!! expression. He finished an entire small bowl. Hub loves it too. I think he liked it more than little Ian.

Ha,so i suppose it was worth all the effort and the cleaning up with Ian in the high chair watching and Caleb hanging around the sink.