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Comfort Cottage Pie




My family love pies. Pastry topped or potato topped, it just doesn't matter. It's all about taste and comfort. It's also down to our dreich Scottish weather. A salad just isn't so appealing on a cold, wet day.

This time I went for a rich vegan shepherd's pie topped with slices of potato instead of the mashed potato you usually find adorning them.

For extra flavour I added one of Schwartz Flavour Shots. Not tried them yet? Each pot contains a single use shot of herbs, spices and seasonings blended in sunflower oil, a nice natural way to add flavour and they are a great way to perk up the taste of a dish.

There are 8 varieties and each is for a particular meal, but I just have a look at the ingredients and pick the one I think will work best with my meal. For this pie I went for the Italian Creamy Herb Tagliatelle which contains onion, garlic, basil, oregano, parsley and rosemary.



So next time it's pouring down outside, whip up this easy shepherd's pie and watch your family smile as you pop it on the table in front of them.

Serve with extra vegetables to help reach that elusive 7-a-day.

print recipe

Comfort Cottage Pie
A rich and satisfying pie topped with sliced potato. Suitable for veggies and vegans.

Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 3 large carrots, chopped
  • 4 large flat mushrooms, chopped
  • 200g dried soya mince
  • 2 pints vegetable stock (3 stock cubes)
  • 1 Schwartz Flavour Shot (Italian Creamy Herb Tagliatelle)
  • a good slug of red wine (optional)
  • 3 tbsp HP brown sauce (or veggie Worcestershire sauce )
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • a good grinding of salt and pepper
  • 3 potatoes
  • a little oil for brushing
Instructions

1. In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes, add the carrots and cook until tender. 

2. Add the mushrooms and cook for another few minutes. Add the soya mince, give it a good mix in and then add the vegetable stock, wine & flavour shot. 

3. Cook down for 20 minutes and then add the HP sauce and tomato puree. 

4. Cook for a further 10 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Go easy on the salt as the stock can be quite salty.  

5. Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/GM6.

 6. Parboil the potatoes for 10 minutes. 

7. Spoon the savoury mine into an ovenproof dish and top with sliced potato. Brush the potato with a little oil and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the potato topping has turned golden. 

8. Enjoy!

Details
Total time:


Yield: Serves 4-6


Disclosure: This was a recipe commission from Schwartz. I was not expected to write a positive review and any opinions expressed are my own.

32 comments

  1. Apart from the soya mince that sounds pretty good but I don't do pseudo meat.

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    1. Ahh well, you could use a selection of beans, but you will need to heavily cut down on the stock.

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  2. Oh man. This looks so good! I would love to have this for dinner!

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    Replies
    1. It's a great family dish. Filling and comforting.

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  3. I had a little chuckle at this recipe as shepherds pie is my signature dish in my family and brown sauce is my secret ingredient! I use tinned brown lentils as I also don't like pseudo meat. Am just about to make your green smoothie soup. Love your site

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    1. The sauce does perk up the flavour. It would be a great dish with lentils instead of soya. I hope you enjoy the soup and thanks for stopping by.

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  4. I have to agree with Mike - not a big fan of soya mince. I'd probably replace it with beef. :) I haven't tried the Schwartz flavour shots yet. I've been eyeing them up in the supermarket but haven't bought one yet. Maybe next supermarket shop...

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    Replies
    1. They are handy for a dish like this. Just chuck one in and stir.

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  5. Lovely comforting recipe Jacs and the flavour shots sound really tasty and handy to have too:-) Also loving that dish:-)

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  6. I'll go with that; hearty comfort food is great whenever the weather turns nasty, as it often does in the UK. It's great today but I know it won't last.

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    Replies
    1. Shhhhh! Don't tempt fate Scott. Touch wood immediately!

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  7. Pie of any sort is a winner in our house - I am the only veggie so I always have to make two! good job we love pie. I too don't like veggie mince/meat so using beans and lentils is a great idea.

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    Replies
    1. Huh, I never realised so many people don't like soya mince.

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  8. Sounds just the thing for a cold day, I'm sure we will have a few more before we get any proper summer!

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  9. I've done a version of shepherds pie with quorn and another with black lentils. Both were delicious. I think these little pots of herbs and stuff are a great time saver!

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    Replies
    1. They are a handy standby to have in the cupboard.

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  10. There's just something about cottage pie. I also have a post entitled cottage pie for comfort or similar ;)

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    Replies
    1. It is definitely a comforting meal. Healthy too.

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  11. This is one we cook about once a week - I especially love the sliced potato on top instead of mash - mum calls them scollops!

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    Replies
    1. Ahh yes, I've heard them called scalloped potatoes. That would have perked up the name of my dish actually.

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  12. Tasty - loving the tartan cloth! I'm still in comfort food zone :-)

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    1. Me too Ren. I am jumping from salads straight back to comfort food. The weather is very changable, so that doesn't help

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  13. Oh I love hotpot toppings... this has totally inspired me Jac as i've not done much one pot vegetarian cooking of late. I'm putting this on my menu plan for next week as the whole family will eat this no problemo! Must try those Flavour Shots... soya mince always benefits from something a little bit extra doesn't it ;-)

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    Replies
    1. Brilliant, well I hope you all enjoy it and yes veggie mince does need that boost.

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  14. Love the sliced potato topping - you can't beat a good pie! I must give those Flavour Shots a go they look good.

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    Replies
    1. They are good and very handy. Potatoes are always a winner :)

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I love reading comments, so thank you for taking the time to leave one. Unfortunately, I'm bombarded with spam, so I've turned on comment moderation. I'll publish your comments as soon as I can and respond to them. Don't panic, they will disappear when you hit publish. Jac x