The Best Cottage Pie EVER!

I'm not generally prone to overstatement but this is certainly the best cottage pie I've ever eaten even if my presentation is a bit rubbish.  I mean it's almost worth making yesterday's pot roast just to have the ingredients!

I suppose Italians do that though.  If you look at their slow cooked hare or boar ragus, they are bubbled away for hours before being chopped up and served with pasta (and I heartily thank them for it).  So I like to think some traditional English establishment might stumble across my blog one day and realise what a fantastic idea this is!  I mean, ok, it's a leftover recipe now but sometimes thrift and hunger are the best inspirations.  Perhaps you might need to work on my presentation, I know, it's a bit ropey.

So, yesterday's recipe for Pot Roast will have had some left over if you weren't too hungry and I also encouraged you to cook a few extra potatoes.  Well here we go:

Amazing Cottage Pie for all the Family - serves 2 adults with quantities below, but easily increased.

Ingredients

Approx 300-400g Cooked Pot Roast Beef
Gravy (approx half from the pot roast)
Left over Mashed Potato from 2-3 potatoes (or 2-3 cooked jacket potatoes scooped out and passed through a ricer.)
30g Grated grana padano, parmesan or strong cheddar

Method

Cut up the pot roast into delicious little meaty shards.  Use a sharp chef knife for this.  Mix with the remaining gravy and put into an ovenproof baking dish.

Top with mashed potato.  I use a ricer which practically guarantees it to be lump free.

Then add the cheese and chill until ready to bake.

Bake for 30 mins approx or until browned on top and thoroughly hot throughout.  Serve with green vegetables.

Absolutely fantastic.  One of my favourite meals and frankly cottage and shepherds pies normally leave me cold.  Great for kids.  If you don't have enough ingredients for a full family version, it's worth making a kid sized one to stick in the freezer (uncooked) for when you're eating that chicken madras that might be a stretch too far...

Oh there are some seconds.  I'll be back in a mo...  nom, nom, nom...

Beef Pot Roast for Babies, Toddlers and Adults

Sorry to all US readers if this is inauthentic.  This is based upon a recipe I found in "Making the Most of your Slow Cooker" by Catherine Atkinson.

It's amazing that I've been cooking with slow cookers (crock pots) since I was a student in *ahem* 1996.  So that makes it 15 years.  If I type small it won't seem that long.  Anyway It's taken me that long to come up with a pot roast recipe.  Surely slow cookers are made for pot roasting right?

Well there are loads of great things about this recipe; it's a cheap cut of meat, it's tasty, it makes it's own gravy, needs very little attention and there is a great leftovers recipe... see tomorrow.  What's more because the beef is so tender, it's great for whizzing up for traditional weaners or giving in small pieces to baby led weaning babies and I think even babies and toddlers will love the leftovers too.  If you think about it, it's often the texture which puts kids off meat.  It must be hard if you think about it; most kids only get their first molars over the age of 12 months, maybe their second set by 2 years old but that's still only 8 'chewing teeth' until their much older!

I would imagine you could make this without a slow cooker but it would be much more faff and more inclined to be a bit dry I would imagine.   Just buy a slow cooker!  They're really cheap to buy and cheap to run!

Pot Roast Beef For the Whole Family - Makes 2 adult portions plus enough for 2 further adult portions as leftovers (see tomorrow's recipe).

Ingredients

850g Rolled Brisket of Beef (sometimes called a 'pot roast' joint in UK supermarkets.  You can use a bigger piece of beef to serve more, just make sure it fits into your slow cooker and don't go bigger than 1.2kg; 2.5lb.)
2 small red onions cut into small wedges
2 carrots cut into thick slices
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
1 small wine glass of red wine (optional, substitute for more stock for babies)
200ml stock (use homemade salt free stock or very low salt stock cube if serving to babies or toddlers)
2 dried bay leaves
A few sprigs of thyme
A few sprigs of parsley
2 dsp cornflour

Method

Put your slow cooker on high.

Put the onions and carrots into a frying pan with half of the oil.  Fry on a medium heat until getting softened and slightly browned, add the garlic and fry a little longer.  Put into the slow cooker.

Heat up the remaining oil in the frying pan and brown the joint all over.  Put on top of the vegetables in the slow cooker.

Deglaze the pan using the wine (or use the stock if not using wine), i.e. scrape up any tasty bits from the bottom and, if using wine, boil for a few minutes to drive off the alcohol.   Add to the slow cooker with the hot stock.  Add in the herbs.

As you can see, my slow cooker is getting a bit worn out and it's a bit on the small side if Santa is reading...

Cook for 3.5 - 4 hours on high, then lower the heat to low and cook for a further 2-3 hours or until it's very tender.  I found 3.5 hours on high and 3 hours on low in my slow cooker was perfect.

Lift out the meat carefully (it might start to fall apart so use a big spoon, don't just skewer it with a fork!)  Cover the meat to keep it warm and leave to rest for 10-15 mins.

Strain the gravy into a sauce pan and discard the vegetables (if serving to a traditionally weaned baby on early stages of weaning you could puree some of the soft carrots, onions and beef together but probably best not to include the garlic in the puree!)

Bring the gravy to the boil.  Mix the cornflour with some cold water until it makes a paste and gradually add to the boiling gravy, stirring constantly until it's thickened to your liking.

Cut up the beef into chunks, it won't carve neatly however sharp your knife is.  Serve with vegetables.  I like to serve with jacket or mashed potatoes.  If you do too, cook two or three extra and stick them in the fridge... because the next recipe is cottage pie with the leftovers!

Roasted Vegetables for Babies and Toddlers

Well probably more for toddlers but baby led weaners would find this a useful recipe I think.  I've included meat and vegetarian options to the recipe.  Just keep an eye on the day's salt intake if feeding to babies younger than 12 months or miss out the feta.

Roasted Vegetables with Chicken or Feta for Babies, Toddlers and Adults - Serves 1 adult, 1 toddler

Ingredients

1 red, orange or yellow pepper, cut into thick strips
1 small or half large onion cut into thin wedges (I used red onion)
Half a courgette (zucchini) cut into thick diagonal slices then into thick sticks
1 clove of garlic crushed or very finely chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Herbs, e.g. thyme, oregano, parsley chopped
1 Cooked chicken breast (optional)
40g Feta Cheese, finely crumbled (optional)

Method

Once your veg is all cut up and you've added the garlic, cover and put into the fridge until you're ready to cook.  Once you are, add the oil and herbs and mix.

Then either cook in a hot griddle pan or frying pan, barbeque hotplate or use a boxer endorsed electrical grill(!)  It took 4 minutes in a preheated electrical grill for us.

Mix with the feta cheese and the chicken breast and serve.   This is handy for babies because it cools down fairly quickly.  If you are wanting to serve cold, leave the vegetables until they are cold before adding the chicken to avoid heating it up again (but if you're eating fairly quickly there should be no issue.)

This was a bit of a revelation.  They're vegetables my son isn't especially bothered about on their own normally but he seemed to particularly like the onion and peppers and had a go with the courgettes.  It also made me feel like I'd eaten something which had done me good rather than slowed me down.  I did follow it up with a carb heavy rice pudding for him though made with dried apricots and sultanas (added to the cooking rice at the start) which went down a treat and helped make the meal more balanced for him and some healthier pineapple for both of us.

This recipe has been linked up here!

Beef Stew for Babies, Toddlers and the Whole Family

I like to think I am the kind of person who doesn't need meat for every meal and I like to think the vegetarian section of this site has the odd recipe or two but at this time of year, slow cooked beef just feels right.

There are adaptations in here for adults, toddlers and babies (baby led weaning or traditional approach) so read on!

What's more important though is, although it's possible to have a vegetarian diet for a toddler, iron is really important in a toddlers and babies diet and beef is a great and easily absorbed source of it.  Also by using a cheap cut of meat not only do you get flavour, you're using a less used part of the animal (which is important to use every part of an animal in my opinion) and you're saving money.

I did post a sketchy outline of a stew recipe a few months back but again, rather than going back and revising, it made more sense to post it with proper quantities.  That said, stews are a piece of cake.  I'd keep the veg / meat ratio similar (unless you're serving to a baby, see notes later) and you can pretty much do what you like within reason.  Keep the vegetables the 'root' kind, e.g. carrots, butternut squash, parsnip, swede, sweet potato, potato and you're onto a winner.  Each type of root vegetable will give it's own character; the sweeter ones balance out the earthy meaty flavours of the beef, the potato would thicken, if you chose new potatoes they'd hold their shape and be an extra vegetable.  It's all good.

Beef Stew for Babies, Toddlers and Adults (see adaptations).  Made 3 adult portions as a pie (see below) and 4-5 toddler portions.

Ingredients

1 Onion in a fine dice
1 Carrot cut into a fine dice
Approx the same amount of butternut squash, peeled and finely diced
650g (approx) stewing steak (you could use braising steak but honestly, stewing steak gives the best flavour and it's cheaper)
Small knob of unsalted butter
2 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
200ml of ale (also known as 'bitter', basically British Real Ale.  You could also use a stout or red wine. If cooking for babies, probably wise to replace it with a very low salt vegetable or beef stock.)
200g Mushrooms, thickly sliced
An additional small knob of unsalted butter
Rounded tbsp of cornflour
1 'normal' beef stock cube (I use oxo) - optional (not for babies or toddlers)

Adaptions for babies

Add in additional root vegetables, for example an extra carrot and chunk of swede, finely chopped.  This will ensure there's a good mixture of nutrients and it's not all meat!

Method

In a non stick pan, dry fry the steak until browned on each side.  If it's in big bits, I don't cut it up because it will break a little on cooking and if you start with small pieces it will end up very small.

Put into a slow cooker.  (You could also cook this in a low oven or on a low hob but it needs more attention.  A slow cooker is great for stews and they're pretty cheap and very cheap to run.)

Heat the butter in the frying pan and put the onions and root vegetables in.  Saute until starting to brown slightly and soften, add the garlic, soften a bit more, then put into the slow cooker.  Deglaze the pan (i.e. use the ale, wine or stock to get any browned bits off the bottom.)  Bring this to the boil; this will help the slow cooking get started and drive off the alcohol.  Pour this into the slow cooker.

Cook for around 4 hours on high, or if you prefer, you can bring to the boil then turn down to low and cook for longer.  Slow cookers do vary slightly but what you're looking for is meat that's falling apart and vegetables which are lovely and soft.

If serving to a baby on pureed food, puree all of the meat and vegetables together with enough of the stock to form a puree of the texture your child likes.  The reason I suggest using more vegetables for babies is because they're less likely to have vegetables on the side, if they are having some then you can cut back a little.  If you want to serve some for yourself and some for your baby, just add a few more vegetables at the start then fish more of them out to puree.

As your baby gets older, you can adapt this recipe to make it suitable for kids on 'soft lumps'.  Do this by pureeing the beef with some of the vegetables but leaving the other vegetables whole.

Baby led weaners could also just serve this as is.  The soft meat will be particularly easy for gums to work on and the vegetables will be very easy to eat.

If serving to older kids or adults, fry the mushrooms then add into the slow cooker on a high heat and cook for approx 15 mins or until the mushrooms are cooked.  Add the beef stock cube if you would like (keep an eye on salt in your toddler's diet though) and mix the cornflour with a little cold water and add to the hot gravy to thicken.  Make sure the stew comes back to a simmer as the cornflour won't thicken without it.  Add a bit more cornflour mixed with water if it's a bit thin.

Serve.

Adaptations

Steak and Ale Pie for Toddlers and Adults - serves 2 Adults and 1 Toddler

This is excellent made into a pie:

Shortcrust pastry

70g, 2.5 oz unsalted butter (can use salted if giving to adults)

100g, 3.5 oz plain flour

15g, 0.5 oz cornflour

2 dsp cold water

Method

Take two adult portions of the beef mixture and put into a pie dish.  Preferably allow to cool prior to topping with pastry.

Preheat the oven to 200oC, 400oF.

Rub the butter into the plain flour and cornflour until it resembles breadcrumbs.  A food processor makes this a piece of cake.  Add the water in gradually until it starts to come together.  Bring the pastry together with your hands and at this point you can chill it until you're ready to use it.

Roll out with a floured rolling pin until approx 2-3mm thick.

Cover the top of the pie dish with the pastry and brush with a little full fat milk.  Decorate with some pastry shapes and bake for approx 50 minutes or until browned and the pastry is crisp.

Sorry, forgot to take a photo before we ate most of it....  Oooops!