Cauliflower crust Cottage pie is a healthier version of the traditional dish from the English countryside. This easy and delicious dish is loaded with savoury beef and vegetables. And as a topping, you’ll find a lovely cauliflower mash. Yummy! You’ll hardly notice the difference just by tasting it, but I can assure you, this is the healthier one.
Do you know the difference between Cottage pie and Shepherd’s pie? Well, the first is made with ground beef and the second with lamb. However, sometimes you’ll find beef also in Shepherd’s pie. Hmm. A little confused here. Hehehe. Anyway, I am sure they both or they all taste great.
I have to admit, I’ve never made or ate a Cottage pie before. In fact, the closest thing to it was when my mother made meat and mashed potatoes when I was little. I know it is not the same, but the ingredients are almost the same only stacked in a different way. Wink.
Moreover, I also can’t remember when was the last time I had mashed potatoes. Hmmm. It was a long long time ago. I am talking about decades! Therefore, it was about time to have some mash again.
What I used in my Cottage pie
As in the original Cottage pie, I used beef too. Probably I would use it to make a Shepherd’s pie as well. Nothing personal, I just like beef more than lamb. Wink. In addition, I cooked the beef in some lovely red wine. The wine gives such a wonderful note to the meat and gravy. The alcohol will evaporate yet the flavour will stay.
Besides meat, I used carrots and celery, just like in the original recipe. And I went big on thyme. In fact, I added quite a big amount of it to the meat. Using fresh thyme really makes a big difference in the flavour. Don’t skip the thyme!
Last but not least, most of the recipes ask for potato mash to form a pie’s crust. Even though I love potatoes, I decided on cauliflower, a healthier but still delicious option. The difference in flavour is minimal, but the difference in carbs is big. Just think that 100 g boiled potatoes have 20 g carbs and the same amount of cauliflower only has 4g. Healthy!
Every once in a while you just need something comfy and delicious to warm your heart up or something that takes you back to your childhood and makes you feel good.
Ingredients for (15x 20 cm) cauliflower crust Cottage pie:
- ½ of a cauliflower head
- 2 garlic cloves (chopped)
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 2 carrots (diced)
- 2 celery stalks (diced)
- 300 g ground beef
- 150-200 ml red wine (Merlot)
- 100 ml beef broth (or vegetable)
- sea salt
- 20 stems of fresh thyme
- butter, avocado oil or coconut oil (for meat and for mash)
Start with cutting the cauliflower into small florets and put to cook. Just like you would do with the potatoes. While the cauliflower is cooking, chop the onion and garlic, dice the carrots and celery stalks.
Next, melt some coconut or avocado oil in a larger nonstick pan. Then, add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery and stir for a couple of minutes. Once the onion gets glossy, add the beef and brown it. As I said in the previous post of “spicy carrot beef”, browning the meat gives a rich flavour to the sauce.
Add some wine to your food
Once the meat gets the lovely brownish colour, stir in the wine and the broth. Bring it to a medium simmer, add the fresh thyme (of course only the leaves, not the wooden stem), season and let it cook for 15 minutes or until the sauce starts to thicken.
Furthermore, preheat the oven to 200º C and make the cauliflower mash. Drain the cauliflower florets, season, add the butter or coconut oil and mash. Done!
Finally, transfer the beef filling to the baking dish and spread it evenly around. Then, spoon the cauliflower mash on top and spread it around, in order to cover the meat completely. In addition, try to create a seal around the edges, to prevent the sauce to splash out.
Place the cauliflower crust Cottage pie in the oven and bake for around 25 minutes or until the crust starts turning golden brown. Then, turn off the oven, open the oven door and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
Either in winter, spring, fall or summer, the cauliflower crust Cottage pie is always a good idea. It’s a wonderful winter warmer and great comfort food. I love the rich beef flavour with the thyme aroma. And you are going to love the tasty cauliflower crust! Give a healthy spin to your dishes.
Enjoy!
PS
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
