Cottage pie with lentils and cauliflower mash
115 min · 34 g protein · 397 cals / serving
The Sunday-night cottage pie, with green lentils and mushrooms cooked into a rich beef and Worcestershire gravy, and a golden lid of potato and cauliflower mash under a little mature cheddar. It slices and spoons exactly like the one you grew up with.
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 2 sticks celery, finely diced
- 300 g mushrooms, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 500 g ground beef (95% lean)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 120 g lentils, dried green or brown, rinsed
- 600 ml beef broth
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 leaves bay leaf
- 1 tsp salt, divided between filling and mash
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 150 g cooked frozen green peas
Mash
- 350 g russet potatoes, floury, such as Maris Piper, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 large cauliflower, cut into florets
- 100 g nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp butter
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 30 g cheddar cheese, mature, grated
Steps
- Heat the oil in a large, wide pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms with a pinch of the salt and cook, stirring now and then, for 12–15 minutes, until the mushrooms have given up their liquid, it has cooked away and the vegetables are soft and starting to color.
- Turn the heat up, add the garlic and the mince and break it up as it browns, 6–8 minutes, until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F. Stir in the tomato purée and fry for a minute until it darkens.
- Add the lentils, stock, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, bay leaves, half the remaining salt and the pepper. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently, partly covered, for 35–40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the lentils are tender and the gravy is thick enough to coat a spoon. Add a splash of water if it dries out before the lentils are done. Remove the bay leaves and stir in the frozen peas.
- While the filling simmers, heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Boil the potatoes in well-salted water for 5 minutes, then add the cauliflower and boil for 12–15 minutes more, until a knife slides into the potatoes easily; the cauliflower goes in later so it softens without turning waterlogged. Drain very well and leave in the colander for 3 minutes to steam dry, then mash with the yogurt, butter, mustard and the rest of the salt until smooth.
- Spoon the filling into a 3-liter baking dish (about 33 × 23 cm), top with the mash, rough it up with a fork and scatter over the cheddar. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until golden on top, bubbling at the edges and 165°F in the middle. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Good to know
Why steam the mash dry?
Cauliflower holds a lot of water. Leaving the drained vegetables in the colander for a few minutes lets the steam carry it off, so the topping mashes thick and browns in the oven instead of sinking into the gravy.
Can I make it ahead?
Assemble it, cool it and keep it covered in the fridge for up to two days, then bake for 40–45 minutes until piping hot in the middle. It also freezes well before baking.
Shepherd's or cottage?
Cottage pie is made with beef; shepherd's pie is lamb. The method is the same if you swap in lean lamb mince, with a little rosemary instead of thyme. It is richer, at about 59 instead of 69.
Alternatives
Per
- Calories
- 90
- Protein
- (37%)
- 8 g
- Fat
- (25%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (38%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 3 g
- Sodium
- 239 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 2383 kcal goes into the pot and 3318 g of ingredients comes out as about 2650 g of food: 90 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.