PAOLA'S COTTAGE PIE

The thought and the feeling of comfort food is something that reminds me of winter time, which is so far away. But yesterday was one of those days where I spent all day thinking, what should I make for dinner? I didn't have a lot of ingredients, forgot to run to the grocery store and just the thought of opening the refrigerator and preparing food didn't sound appealing to me at all. A very wise man once told me (my dad, who is an amazing cook), " A good cook do not always follow recipes, you work with what you have in your kitchen, smell your ingredients, close your eyes and let your imagination do the rest. Everyone can cook, you just need some motivation and inspiration." It sounds so simple, right?

To make the story short, I went to my regular Mondays Zumba class, came home took a nice long shower and the thought kept on bothering me, it's 6 pm and I'm still thinking about what to make for dinner! I put my pj's on came down stairs to hug my family and noticed our house was really cold. Oh the thought of winter and the  desire of having some warm food to warm my soul crossed my mind immediately. I'm preparing some comfort food!

With the little ingredients I came across, I was able to create this smooth, easy to digest, but yet nutritious and warm dish. Being born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia and preparing Colombian dishes everyday, I usually try to follow my dad's advice when I'm not in the mood of cooking for hours or having a really heavy dish and try to simplify and  invent new dishes. I'm grateful for my husband, who was born and raised here in the United States and has more experience with different kinds of food other than Spanish dishes. I always brag about how good my new creation was and after eating all of his dinner, he always reminds me, Sweet Heart dinner was delicious but that dish has already been created. This time he called it........................Cottage Pie! 

Oh well my amazing friends, this is my version of a wanna be a really good amazing Cottage Pie. I'm not going to feel sorry for myself, instead I am giving myself a little pity pat on my back and some credit and calling it Paola's Cottage Pie. 

Bon Appetit!

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INGREDIENTS 

Serving for 6 people 

Mash Potatoes

1 1/2 pounds of Idaho potatoes or your  favorite white potatoes (about 6 medium size potatoes)
1/2 cup of whole milk
4 tbsp of butter about 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Filling

1 Tbsp of olive oil
1 pound of ground beef (85% to 95% lean)
1 cup or 1 medium size chopped yellow onions
1 1/2 cups of frozen veggies (Buy the bag of frozen veggies that contains peas, carrots and corn)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup of ketchup
2 Tbsp of Worcestershire
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of grated Mexican cheese or Mozzarella if Mexican is not available

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DIRECTIONS

• Heat your oven to 400 degrees while you prepare all of the other ingredients
• Set aside 6 small individual baking dishes and grease the bottom with butter, set aside for later. 

Mash Potatoes

• In a large pot, boil the potatoes in water with salt. You can tell when the potatoes are ready when they are soft and tender. (Hint: While they are boiling try cutting through on with a knife, if the knife cuts the potatoes with no effort, like butter, then your potatoes are ready.) I boiled mine on high heat for about 20 minutes. 
• Once the potatoes are completely cooked, drain the water and put them in a separate bowl to mash up. Mash the potatoes, add milk, butter, salt and black pepper to taste. Set aside to use later.

If you need step by step visual direction on how to make mash potatoes, please refer to my Stuffed Green Pepper recipe.

Filling

• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook until brown. 
• Once the ground beef is cooked all the way add the onions and garlic, mix for about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the frozen veggies and cook for  another 1 minute. 
• Stir in the Ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste. ( I added 1/2 tsp of salt, and 1/4 tsp of pepper).

• Time to transfer all of your ingredients to the baking dishes. From the bottom to the top start by one layer of the ground beef filling, one thick layer of cheese and one layer of mash potatoes. I like spreading a little cheese on top of the mash potatoes to add some color to it. 

• Bake uncovered for 20 minutes 

Note: This pie is extremely hot when you take it out of the oven. Please make sure that you let it rest for about 3 minutes before serving. Warn your family about how hot the dishes are to prevent getting burned. 

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Here is a picture of my sweet bambino eating mommy's pie. This is a very simple dish with a very soft texture that will fill your toddlers tummy and fulfill all of his nutritional needs. Logan is a really picky eater but he loved dinner tonight. So I'm calling it a total SUCCESS!

Hope you enjoy making this recipe for your family, yourself or how about your date! I would love to hear from you.

What is your favorite winter dish? If you would like me to make your recipe or try it please contact me. I would love to make it and give you all the credit!

Contacting me is very easy. Comment on this post, send me an email or visit me on Facebook.