Recipe: Cauliflower Cottage Pie

Ingredients (Serves 6):

25g butter
2 medium onions peeled and diced
500g lean steak mince
3 medium carrots peeled and finely chopped
150g frozen peas
3 beef stock cubes
2 heads of cauliflower
Salt and Pepper

Method:

Melt half the butter in a large pan, add the diced onion and cook gently until the onion is soft and not coloured.  Next add the steak mince to the pan and stir with the onion until all of the meat is brown.

Add the chopped carrot and frozen peas and crumble over 2 of the stock cubes.  Make up 300ml of stock with the remaining cube and pour over the mince.  Stir, season and put a lid on the pan and let that simmer gently whilst you make the cauliflower topping (you may need to stir this occasionally to prevent the mince sticking to the pan).

Whilst the mince is simmering remove the outer leaves of the cauliflower discard.  Chop the cauliflower and stalk into even pieces and then steam for around 8-10 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft.  Drain and set aside to cool.

Whilst the cauliflower is cooling, drain the mince (you can use any liquid that drains from the mince to make gravy if you like).  Transfer the mince into a large rectangular oven dish and spread evenly over the bottom.

Once the cauliflower has had a few minutes to cool transfer it to a food processor and blend with the remaining butter and seasoning.  The cauliflower will become a smooth puree, if it is still lumpy after a few minutes blending then scrape the sides of the blender with a knife and blend for a few minutes more.

Spoon the cauliflower on top of the mince and place in the middle of a preheated oven (200c) for about 20 minutes:

Personally I think this tastes much better than potato mash on the top, its really smooth and creamy and lighter in calories and fat as I used much less butter than I ordinarily would and no milk.  I think next time I might try a healthier shepherd's pie with lean lamb mince and parsnip puree.

Calories per serving: 280 (according to MyFitnessPal)
Carbs: 14g
Fat: 15g (of which saturates 7g)
Protein: 23g
Fibre: 6g