Cottage pie with Borlotti beans and Porcini mushrooms

Cottage pie is really the prefer comfort food for a drizzly rainy day. Some people think rainy days are miserable, but I love them. Its an excuse to eat warm wholesome foods and cuddly up on the couch with a movie or a good book.

If you thought my weekend was pretty lazy it was not! I was a busy bee giving my house a spring clean and searching for eco friendly, toxin free products for when we eventually move up stairs to our bedroom.

Finding organic chemical free organic quilt covers that were affordable and not all white was almost impossible. But I managed to find a Australian distributer for West Elm. Although not all of their Organic Cotton Quilt covers had the GOTS Standard, I did manage to find a couple with this standard on Sale!  Their postage to Brisbane is also quite reasonable and the Sale price was much cheaper then conventional sheets.

I did try to investigate whether the Organic quilt covers without the GOTS Standard were made without chemicals. However,I could not get a definete answer from their customer service staff. This is something to investigate if you are thinking of upgrading your current bedding.

For more information on buying organic chemical free sheets check out A Buyer’s Guide to Organic Sheets.

Cottage pie with  Borlotti beans and Porcini mushrooms (vegan, gluten free, soy free, nut free)

Ingredients: 

7-8 potatoes (for mashing), chopped

1-2 tablespoon olive oil

2 medium or 1 large onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, diced

4 spring onions, chopped (optional), 

3 tomatoes, whole

1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms (soak in 1 cup filtered water)

2 teaspoons dry vegetable stock

2 small carrots, chopped

1 tablespoon thyme leaves (fresh/dry)

1 teaspoon corn flour mixed with 1/2 cup filtered water

1 tin borlotti beans (preferably from BPA free tin or 1.5 cup cooked beans)

sea salt and black pepper to taste

1/2 cup unsweetened plant milk (I used Bonsoy)

3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional) 

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 80 degrees.

2. Place potatoes in water and bring to a boil. I used about 1 litre filtered water to cook them in. Allow them to cook until they are soft.

3. Bring another pot to the boil, then drop the tomatoes in whole. Leave for about 30 seconds, or until the skin begins to peel back. Then immediately remove and drop into cold water. Then peel and chop.

4. Heat an oven proof skillet (or regular skillet) with olive oil. Then add onion, garlic and spring onion. Sauté until the onion starts to brown.

5. Add the porcini mushrooms and the water they were soaking in, tomatoes, carrot and vegetable stock. Bring to the boil then leave to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the carrots start to soften.

6. While the skillet is simmering add corn flour mixed with some water. If your potatoes are ready add a couple of the starchy water the potatoes were cooking in. Also you can add the borlotti beans and stir through.

7. Remove the potatoes from the pot if it is too watery. Then add 1/2 cup plant milk, sea salt, black pepper and nutritional yeast. Leave to the side till your ready to assemble the pie.

8. If you are using an oven proof skillet then simply top the vegetables with mash potatoes. If you are using a regular skillet, then place the vegetables in an over proof dish and then top with mash potatoes.

9. Back cottage pie for 20 minutes or longer to get a crispier top.

*Serves 6

*Taste great with some sautéed leafy greens!