Cottage Pie With Hidden Veggies

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 kg extra lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon caremalised balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon all purpose seasoning
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 zucchini, grated
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1/2 pint boiling water
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 small butternut pumpkin, peeled and cubed
• 2 teaspoons butter
• salt
• pepper

Recipe

• 1 heat the olive oil over a medium heat in a large pan.
• 2 add the minced beef and brown.
• 3 add the onions and continue to cook until translucent (approx 4 mins).
• 4 add the caremalised balsamic vinegar, worcestershire sauce, garlic, celery salt, all purpose seasoning, thyme and parsley and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
• 5 add the red wine and continute to cook until the liquid is absorbed.
• 6 add the grated zucchini and carrot and cook for a further 2 or 3 minutes.
• 7 crumble in the stock cubes, add the boiling water then stir it in together.
• 8 add the tomato puree, bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste.
• 9 continue to simmer on a low heat, you may need to add a little more water.
• 10 meanwhile, place the pumkin, potatoes and sweet potato into a separate pan and cover with cold water.
• 11 bring to the boil and simmer until tender.
• 12 drain the potato/sweet potato/pumpkin and mash - as the pumpkin tends to retain water the best way to mash it is using a ricer so you can squeeze the water out at the start of each press.
• 13 add the butter to the potato mix and season to taste.
• 14 remove the bay leaves from the minced beef mix and spoon the mixture into a shallow 2 quart dish.
• 15 add the potato mix over the top of the beef mixture, spread evenly then rough up the top using the back of a fork.
• 16 place under a hot grill for 4 minutes.