Mince and vegetable potato pie

One of our family favourite dinners during winter is shepherds and cottage pie, warm you up on those cold nights. The night I made this recipe for dinner I initially intended on making a cottage pie, but I had quite a few vegetables in the fridge that needed using up, so I made a version of the traditional shepherds/cottage pie which I’ve called Mince and Vegetable Potato Pie.

It’s a great way to ‘smuggle or hide’ vegetables into the kid’s dinner. I put my the onion, carrots, celery and zucchini into the food processor (thermomix) and blitzed it for a few seconds into small pieces, alternatively, you could grate or finely dice the vegetables.  I found blitzing quick and easy.

Speaking of kids, this isn’t an overly spicy meal so the young ones should enjoy it.  Feel free to add extra herbs and spices if you want to tantalise your taste buds!

Minced beef with vegetables and a gravy-like sauce, topped with potato and cheese….. noms!

This is also a great recipe to double and freeze.

To Freeze:  Make to end of step 11, freeze.  Take out of freezer the night before and defrost in the fridge.  Place in oven until heated through, if still slightly frozen you may need to bake for an extra 10-15 minutes.

Mince and Vegetable Potato Pie

Serves:

Prep Time	Cook Time	Total Time
20 mins	40 mins	1 hour

Ingredients

• 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 25g butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 brown onions, finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced
• 1 zucchini, finely diced
• 1kg lean beef mince
• ½ cup tomato paste
• ¼ cup plain flour
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• Salt and Pepper, to season
• 1/2-3/4 cup tasty cheese, grated

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C, fan forced.
2. Boil potatoes in a large saucepan of water until tender.
3. Drain potatoes and mash with butter, milk and salt.
4. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat, add onion, zucchini, celery and carrot. Saute for 5 minutes or until onions are transparent.
5. Add the mince, breaking up any lumps, cooking for a further 8 minutes or until browned.
6. Add tomato paste, mix and stir through for a minute.
7. Sprinkle the flour over the meat mixture and stir to combine for one minute.
8. Pour stock into frypan, bring to the boil and simmer until sauce thickens.
9. Stir through corn and peas, cook for a further 2 minutes, season with salt and pepper.
10. Place meat mixture into a large casserole dish.
11. Spoon heaped piles of mash potato over the top of mince, spread to cover casserole dish, top with cheese.
12. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes or until golden

By Kat – The Organised Housewife

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