Levi Roots cooks Cottage Pie for St George's Day
This St George’s Day, why not get your friends and family round and celebrate in style. In this video Levi Roots takes on a classic English dish - Cottage Pie. Or you can always try making this dish for any time of the year, when you feel like indulging in some traditional English comfort food with a taste of Caribbean sunshine.
Levi says, “Caribbean food is meant to be enjoyed with people, it’s all about the fun of eating good food with good friends and family, so I’m always looking for an excuse to celebrate and cook up a big feast for my loved ones, and what better time than St George’s Day?
“After all St George was a dragon slayer just like me! And he has inspired me to create this unique take on a classic English dish – Cottage Pie. I love Cottage Pie, it’s one of the first English dishes I tried when I came to the UK from Jamaica, and for me it represents everything that is great about this country’s native dishes - containing simple, strong flavours with a fantastic balance between meat and vegetables. I can’t improve on that, but what I have done is give the dish a little touch of Levi by using a Caribbean favourite, Sweet Potato instead of English Potatoes, and of course adding a little kick with the authentic herbs and spices that are found in my Reggae Reggae Cooking Sauce”.
Reggae Reggae Cottage Bake
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
200g lean minced beef or lamb (could also use chicken or turkey mince)
1 Jar Reggae Reggae cooking sauce
1 Stock Cube
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2tbsp Natural Yoghurt
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Sprig Thyme
1 Carrot – cut into strips
2 Large Baking Potatoes – peeled & diced
1 Sweet Potato – peeled & diced
1 tbsp milk
25g Unsalted butter
Salt & pepper to season
Method:
Turn on the oven and heat to 200C.
Heat the oil in a saucepan and carefully add the minced meat along with the carrots. Fry lightly taking care to break up any lumps of meat.
Sprinkle over the stock cube and add the jar of sauce along with the tinned tomatoes, simmer for approx 25 minutes.
Meanwhile bring a pan of water to the boil and add the chopped potatoes, leave to cook.
Place into the casserole dish or dishes, about 2/3 of the way up and leave to one side to cool.
Once the potatoes are cooked through, drain and leave for 1 minute to dry out. Add the milk & butter and mash until smooth and creamy. Season to taste.
Carefully place spoonfuls of the potato on top of the meat mixture then bake in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.
Remove from the oven with caution and place a spoonful of the bake onto a plate, serve with vegetables of your choice and enjoy!
