Cottage or shepherds pie was the one meal I hated as a child. We all have those meals that our parents used to make that we hated, the one meal that would instil dread when we heard that was what was for dinner. This meal was mine.
When i was little i wasn’t a fan of plain mashed potatoes i liked creamy rich cheesy mash, so i think thats why i didn’t like it, but we all know children can be fussy little things.
I can promise that you will love this, its absolutely delicious.
It is perfect served with some some tender steam broccoli on the side & some extra gravy poured all over.
Best of all this recipe is 100% vegan and gluten free.
Serves 4:
Ingredients:
- 4 Large baking potatoes
- 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 2 large carrots, peeled & diced
- 1 Medium white onion, peeled & diced
- 1 Red pepper, diced
- 1 Clove of garlic, crushed
- 250g Soya mince (or dehydrated soya chunks)
- 2 Tbsp. Tomato puree
- 450mls Gravy*
- Salt & pepper
- A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce (I used Tiger)
- Knob of dairy free butter
- Splash of almond milk
- 25g vegan cheese, grated (I used Violife)
- Salt & pepper
- Tender steam broccoli or green beans for serving
*My Tip, I use Free & Easy Vegetable Gravy Sauce Mix. As its vegan and gluten free, I do add an extra few spoons of the mix to make it a little richer.
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 200c/400f/ or Gas mark 6
- Prick your baking potatoes and microwave until they are cooked (time will vary depending on the size of your potato’s) and leave to one side to cool a little.
- In a large saucepan sauté the onions, garlic, peppers and diced carrots in the oil until they are soft.
- While the vegetables are cooking slice the top of the potato length ways & scoop out the potato in the middle, be careful not to rip the skin, once you have done all the potatoes you can turn the scooped out potato into the mash topping, add the butter, milk, salt & pepper, and vegan cheese and mix. Leave to one side.
- When your vegetables are soft, add the soya mince, tomato puree, 350 mls of gravy, Worcestershire sauce and leave to simmer for 25 minutes on a low heat, you want it to reduce so there isn’t much gravy left and its all rich and dark.
- If you would like your potato skins to be a little crunchy then bake them in the oven for 5 minutes while the filling is reducing
- When your filling has reduced scoop the filling into the potato skins and top with mash, you can either pipe your mash on our just put in on with a spoon.
- Bake in the oven for 25/30 minutes until the mash is golden brown and crispy
- Serve with your green vegetables and a little extra gravy.
My tip, You can make these in advance and leave in the fridge & bake as step 7 just in time for dinner.
