Wednesday 9 March 2011

I Heart Comfort Food! :)


Hi everyone!

How nice and 'home comfort foody' does this look? :)



Shepherdess Pie :)

I made this for tea the last night (appropriately enough on National Womens Day!) and it has become a definate comfort food favorite :) I think It is the perfect antidote to the cold, miserable, rainy and generally dark and gloomy weather we have been having recently, and as the recipe makes loads, its perfect for portioning off and reheating in the microwave for a quick, comforting tea when you have finished work.


Although I adore the 'original' sheperds pie recipe, this version is cheaper, just as yummy, and is also very healthy, bonus!
I found its perfect for using up bits and bobs in the fridge, and its also very low in syns on the slimming world diet plan. (I actually just chucked in whatever I had lurking around, and it tastes devine!)
I thought I would do this as a tutorial, so here's how to make a vegetarian, healthy twist on an old favourite...

Ingredients (to feed 4):
  • 1/2 chopped onion
  • 1 grated carrot
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes or 1 carton of passata
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1/2 tsp dried herbs or 1 tsp fresh herbs (mixed herbs, basil or oregano)
  • 1 small tin sweetcorn, drained
  • I small tin/frozen garden peas
  • 1 chopped red or yellow pepper
  • 4-6 mushrooms, sliced or chopped
  • 1 tin of beans or lentils, drained...haricot, black eyed, mixed beans, red kidney, whatever! (baked beans would be fine too)
  • mashed potato (or mashed: sweet potato, carrot & swede, cauliflower - let your imagination run wild!)
  • grated cheese (optional)
Method:

Fry onion and pepper in a little oil or fry light, for a couple of minutes, add carrot and mushrooms, then add tomato puree and cook for a couple more minutes.


Add tomatoes/passata and herbs and bring to the boil, then add sweetcorn, peas and beans (simmer mixture for around 10 mins if using as a pasta sauce).

Put in a casserole dish, top with mashed potato and top with grated cheese, if using.


Bung in the oven at about 180 C/Gas 4 for 30 mins, until cheese is lightly browned and bubbling.
DONE!


(You could also use the filling as a pasta sauce or to fill tortilla wraps. Vary the ingredients and chop finely or in big bits, depending on what you (or your kids!) like)

What is YOUR favorite comfort food?
 

16 comments:

  1. looks yummy! My comfort food, may sound strange but I love a good curry, bit of spice when I need cheering up or if it is miserable and cold outside :o) Scarlett x

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  2. looks great! My fav comfort food is mums lasagne :-) xx

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  3. I don't think I can narrow it down. And therein lies my problem :) thank you for a yummy recipe. x

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  4. That looks super yummy! Did you use sweet corn packed in water or the cream corn varity?

    My favorite comfort food is breaded oven baked catfish served with roasted potatos and green beans like my great Gran used to make.

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  5. yummm that looks so good.. i love shepards pie!! i've never seen it subbed with beans i'll have to try that!!

    i love stuffing hahah.. i know weird right.. i can just eat stuffing.. and a side of mashed potatoes hahah.

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  6. My comfort food is always bread. I could eat freshly baked bread rolls until the cows came home.

    I've been craving shepherd's pie recently so I think this may be fate telling me to crack on and make some!

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  7. Looks really scrummy and sounds really healthy too :) x

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  8. I must try this one!
    My comfort food is chocalate, cakes, buns anything like that, I baked choc-chip cookies today and have already eaten one of them! xx

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  9. I have most of these ingredients in the house at the moment so will maybe make this over the weekend - hope mine works out as well as yours did. Looks deee-lish.

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  10. Yum. Have never seen a veg version before, sounds and looks delicious though. Thanks for sharing the recipe. x

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  11. That looks delicious! Feeling under the weather at the moment, so think this could be just the thing! thank you:)

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  12. Hey :)
    Thankyou for your lovely comment, I don't know if it will tell you that i've replied but below (and on my page) is the clay mask :)

    http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Essentials-Cucumber-3-Minute-Clay-Mask-50ml_869647/

    I'll be trying out this recipe, I love shepards pie and definately need to loose a few pounds and stop eating so much!

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  13. This looks soooo yummy! I'm deffo going to try this out for myself. I love healthy alternative versions of comfort food dishes. x

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  14. Thank you for the lovely comments on my blog.
    This recipe sounds delicious. I might have to give this a go; looks a good compromise for meat-eating me and non-meat-eating boyfriend.
    My comfort food is usually soup. Or pie. NOM.

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  15. I really like the sound of all those ingredients in your pie, sounds and looks so delicious!

    My favourite comfort food is macaroni cheese, topped with sliced tomatoes, just how mum used to make it when I was little :)

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  16. Wow, that looks very yummy. I like Shepherd's pie too but never made it before. it is always PING (microwave oven) version

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comments make me happy :)