Vegetarian Four Bean Cottage Pie

The Supermarket Waitrose has been supporting the Soil Association’s ‘Small Changes, Big Difference’ campaign by celebrating everything organic. As you know this week, I was invited to take part in this celebration and asked if I would swap one meal a day to organic for a week. For my Day 5 of going organic, I decided to make a cottage pie using some tins of organic beans and chick peas I picked up in Waitrose. Waitrose also have some helpful recipes on their website.

Ingredients for 4 servings

For the topping

8-10 medium organic potatoes, peeled and diced largely
1 tablespoon organic butter
2 tbsp organic milk
2 or 3 cups of grated organic cheese
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
2 heaped tbl Philadelphia Cheese
slices to tomato to garnish the pie

For the Filling

240 gms of organic boiled chick peas (these come in cans)
240 gms of organic boiled kidney beans (these come in cans)
240 gms of mixture of boiled pink lentils and red Aduki beans ( I soaked and boiled these separately)
2 cups of sliced spinach
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 cloves of finely meshed organic garlic
2 cups of chopped organic Passata
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

For the base a surprise ingredient:

4 slices of seeded toast with the crust removed.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F or Gas Mark 5).

2. Peel the potatoes and chop them into smallish cubes. Using just enough water to cover the potatoes, cook the potatoes until they are soft.

3. Meanwhile heat the oil in a saucepan and add the garlic, spinach and the mixture of beans. Add the tomatoes and tomato puri as well as the salt and pepper. Allow the mixture to simmer until the mixture has thickened.

4. Slightly grease a baking tray and layer it with the toast.

5. Add the cooked bean mixture on to the toast.

6. To prepare the topping: Mash the potatoes with the milk and butter until smooth, add the Philadelphia cheese, oregano and add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Layer the beans with the mashed potatoes and sprinkle some grated cheese on the top and garnish the top with sliced tomatoes.

8. Lower the oven temperature to 170° C (325°F or Gas mark 3) and cook in the centre of the Oven 20 minutes.

9. Serve Vegetarian Cottage Pie hot with a variety of organic vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli and Green beans.

Twinkl have recently published a blog post in celebration of National Vegetarian Week, which includes information on various food substitutes for meat. Twinkl, is working to provide support for people looking for information on how to reduce meat in their diets. As an educational resource company, they produce educational content and resources on the topic . FYI – National Vegetarian Week is a UK-based event that takes place annually from 1-7 October. The Vegetarian Society organizes the week to promote the benefits of a meat-free diet and to show that vegetarian food is exciting and accessible.

Related recipes on my blog you may wish to try:

I was sent a voucher by Waitrose to purchase Organic Foods in order to undertake this challenge. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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