Frosty Cottage Pie

 

 With really careful planning you can get a lot of milage out of a simple beef roast.  For instance the brisket that I cooked the other day as a pot roast, has also yielded us two more meals.  

 

One in the shape of  a delicious hash  the second in this festively fun Frosty Cottage Pie today! So while we may sometimes cringe at the cost of such a large piece of meat, in the long run it can be quite ecoomical!

 

For these I used a brisket roast which I cooked in the slow cooker as a pot roast on the first day. Careful use of an already cheaper cut of meat makes it even more of a bargain.  

 

And what a fun way to use it up!   I guarantee nobody will be turning their noses up at these leftovers!

 

I have used pepper corns, roasted red pepper slices and frozen peas to dress up my "Frosty's!"   You will want to warn your children and husband or partner to remove the peppercorns prior to eating.

 

You don't want them to eat something which they may find a bit too spicy. But what a delightful presentation for what is essentially leftovers.

 

I have photographed it prior to baking so you can see it at it's cutest, the peas do darken a bit upon baking, but it remains totally whimiscal and delightfully pleasing no matter the colour of the peas.  You can add a dusting of cheese on top if you wish as well.  

 

 If you are not into snowmen, you can just pile the mashed potatoes on top and dust them with cheese prior to baking, but why not be a bit frivolous and take the extra time to make the snowmen, especially during this festive season! 

 

*Frosty Cottage Pie*
Serves 4 

Printable Recipe 

This recipe is just a bit of fun I came up with to use up the rest of my leftover roast from the other day.  It's deliciously festive! 

3 cups chopped leftover roast beef (450g)
2 TBS olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced

1 TBS butter
3 TBS plain flour
1 1/2 cups of beef stock (360ml)
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 TBS tomato catsup
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chopped leftover vegetables (or frozen if you have none leftover) (300g)
3 to 4 cups of leftover or fresh mashed potatoes (500g - 650g)
(If you are using leftover mash, use a couple of Tablespoons of sour cream
or milk to slacken the mixture a bit)

To decorate:
whole peppercorns
roasted pepper strips
thawed frozen peas

Heat the oven to 190*C/375*F.    Butter a round casserole dish.  Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently over medium heat to soften without colouring.  Stir in the garlic and cook for about a minute.   Add the butter and allow it to melt, then stir in the plain flour.  Cook for a further minute.  Add the beef stock and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to the boil and thickens somewhat.  If it is too thick you may add a bit more stock.  (Alternately, if you have leftover beef gravy, you may use that instead but you will need about 1 1/2 cups of it.)  Whisk in the Worcestershire Sauce, thyme and catsup.   Stir in the lefover meat and vegetables.  Heat through.   Taste and adjust seasoning as required.  Pour this mixture into the prepared casserole dish.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out the mashed potatoes into circles in the shape of a snowman on top of the hot meat mixture.   I used a regular sized ice cream scoop for the bottoms and a slightly smaller one for the tops.  It helps if you spray it with some non stick cooking spray first.  Use peppercorns to create eyes, pepper strips to make scarves and peas for the buttons.   

Bake in the heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until well heated and bubbly.   Serve hot.

Note - If you don't have any leftover cooked roast beef, you can use minced beef in it's place in equal quantities, browning it in a skillet before you add the onions.  Brown the beef, add the onions and continue as per recipe from there on.

 Happy Holidays! 

 

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