Saturday, February 22, 2014

Cottage Pie....YUMmers!

This week I had some grass fed beef fresh from the farmer defrosted in the bottom of the fridge. So I went hunting through the rest of the fridge to figure out something for dinner. The cauliflower caught my eye and I immediately thought Cottage Pie. (which is like Shepherds Pie except in Shepherds Pie you use ground lamb as the meat, which is still yummy!) Anyway here is what came about...

Cottage Pie
1 batch of mashed cauliflower (make sure it is well seasoned for this recipe)
1 T of fat of choice
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of red pepper flakes
2 cups of mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 lb of grass fed beef
2 T of tapioca starch
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of coconut aminos
1 tsp of dried oregano
2 tsp of tomato paste
1 tsp of fresh rosemary, chopped
1 cup of chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

-In a dutch oven heat up your fat of choice, I used lard, over medium heat

-add in garlic and pepper flakes and stir until you can start to smell the garlic

-add in mushrooms and let them cook down

-add in carrots and onions and cook until they become soft

-add in beef and cook until browned

-sprinkle tapioca starch over contents and stir it in

-add in salt, dried oregano, and coconut aminos

-make a little hot spot in the center of your pot and add the tomato paste, stirring and cooking it in the center until you can start to smell it. Then stir it in with the rest of the contents.

-Add in stock and rosemary, stir together and cook until nice and thick. This should happen fairly quickly due to the tapioca starch.

-Pour into a casserole dish and top with your batch of cauliflower mash. If you are primal you can top with a little grated raw grass fed cheese

-bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes

-let stand for 15 minutes before serving

Here is what it looks like....I mean seriously....that filling.....just set me down with a big spoon!!




Cauliflower Mash

For someone who thought they didn't like cauliflower....I sure do love this stuff. I could live without mashed potatoes FOREVER because of this stuff. Here is what you do....

-Cut the florets of a head of cauliflower
-Steam it until it gets tender
-Transfer the veg to a blender or I use my ninja (hi-YA!)
-Add a couple of T of raw grass fed butter (if you can tolerate it) and salt and pepper to taste
-Blend

It comes out looking like this..


Now... some people like it to be more of a puree, so if that is you, just add some chicken stock in the ninja until you reach your desired consistency. Me? I like it just. like. this!