Epic Cottage Pie
Here’s our take on the old Irish classic: we top a rich super tasty lentil mix with mashed sweet potato and drizzle with a simple coriander pesto – delicious. The coriander pesto sets this dish alight and it presents really well drizzled on top before serving. Serve with a simple green salad.
Takes
Serves 8
Ingredients
- 3 X 400g tinned lentils (rinsed and drained)
- 2 parsnips (grated)
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 sprigs of fresh thyme (leaves removed from the stalk generous 1/2 tsp black pepper)
- 3 tbsp tamari
- 1 l Veg stock
- 100 g green beans (cut into bite sized pieces)
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 kg sweet potato (3 medium washed well, blemishes taken out (unpeeled) , cut into uniform pieces)
- 500 g regular potato (washed well, unpeeled and uniformly cut)
- 150 ml oat milk or other non-dairy milk of your choice
- 1 tsp salt
- A pinch of ground black pepper to taste
- 1 bunch coriander (both leaves and stalks (approx. 50g))
- a pinch of black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic (peeled and left whole)
- juice of half a lemon
- ½ tsp salt
- 100 ml neutral tasting oil
- 100 ml water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mark 4).
- Chop the sweet potatoes and regular potatoes into a uniform size so that they will cook evenly. Put them into a medium sized pot, cover with water and boil until soft, about 20-25 minutes.
- In another medium sized pan, add 2 tbsp oil and grate in the 2 parsnips.
- Add the thyme leaves and fry for a minute before adding in the lentils and then the tamari. Slowly add in the veg stock so it starts to evaporate and the lentils start to absorb it slowly. Add 1/2 a heaped tsp of black pepper and then the rest of the veg stock, letting it slowly evaporate.
- While these two pots are cooking you can make the coriander pesto by adding all the pesto ingredients to a blender and blend till smooth.
- Once this is done, you will see that the liquid in the lentil mixture has evaporated significantly. Make sure that there is still a decent bit of moisture so that the potatoes will absorb it. Add in the fine beans and mix through the hot lentil mixture, letting them cook in that heat.
- The potatoes should now be ready (a knife cuts through them very easily). Drain the water and add 1 tsp salt and the oat milk. Then mash them all together.
- Remove the bay leaves and then line the lentil and veg mix at the bottom of a casserole tray, drizzle some of the coriander pesto on top of the lentil mix and distribute the mash evenly on top. Score it with a fork to make it look nice and even.
- Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until it crisps along the top.
- Finish by drizzling with the remaining coriander pesto before serving. Enjoy!