Mince and cheese kumara-top pies
Rich, tasty mince filling – tick. Lots of added vegetables – tick. Fluffy mash topping with grilled cheese – tick. A dish the whole family will love – tick!
Ingredients
Kumara and swede mash topping
- 500 g orange kumara peeled and diced 3cm
- 1 swede, medium-sized peeled and diced 3cm
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup cheese e.g. colby, edam, cheddar, grated
Pie filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion finely diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 carrot peeled and grated
- 1 courgette zucchini, grated
- 400-500 g beef mince
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon mustard e.g. Dijon or wholegrain
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1½-2 cups beef stock
To serve
- 1½ cups frozen peas defrosted
- 200 g green beans ends trimmed
- 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
- tomato sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190°C. Bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil.
- Cook kumara and swede in pot of boiling water for 12–15 minutes, until very soft. Drain and mash with butter, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- While vegetables cook, prepare pie filling; heat oil in a large fry-pan on medium heat. Fry onion, garlic, carrot and courgette until soft, 3–4 minutes. Add beef mince and cook for 3–4 minutes until brown, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Add tomato paste, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and mustard, stir until combined. Sprinkle over flour, stir to combine and cook for 1–2 minutes then add beef stock, stir and simmer for 5–7 minutes until sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
- Half fill 5 large individual ramekins (1 cup capacity) with filling or use one large pie dish. Spread mash over to cover, rough up the surface with a fork and sprinkle over cheese. Bake for 10 minutes, then increase to grill, for about 3 minutes, until topping is golden. Rest for 5 minutes.
- Bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil. Cook peas and beans for 2–3 minutes until just tender, then drain.
- To serve, place individual ramekins (or serve spoonfuls) of mince and cheese pie onto plates and sprinkle over parsley. Serve peas and beans on the side with a dollop of tomato sauce, if desired.
Notes
The mince pie is a Kiwi staple, but more often than not they’re pretty unhealthy – full of overly salted gravy, fatty meat, and undercooked pastry. I’m a big fan of the potato-top pie, so at My Food Bag, we decided to give the good old pie a healthy makeover and the result was incredibly delicious and a hit with our customers. We love packing extra vegetables into our recipes at My Food Bag, and this recipe is no different – kids will never know the pie filling contains carrot and zucchini! You can use individual ramekins if you have them, otherwise a large dish would be fine.
Note: To make it gluten-free, use gluten-free flour and gluten-free soy sauce, and to make it dairy-free, omit the butter, milk and cheese from the mash.