Cottage Pie with Caulicannon Topping

As it's very close to Halloween now, and I had a dental implant inserted today, which means I need mushy food, I have made cottage pie but with a caulicannon topping.

You'll find my caulicannon recipe here:
http://fibrofood.blogspot.ie/2015/09/colcannon.html

and my cottage pie recipe here:
http://fibrofood.blogspot.ie/2015/06/cottage-pie.html

Caulicannon

Hallowe'en is coming and there is nothing more traditional in Ireland at this time of year than Colcannon. Usually made with potatoes, I have of course used cauliflower instead! Here's my recipe:

Ingredients

1 large head of cauliflower
4 large handfuls of curly kale
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
Butter
salt and pepper

Method

1. Chop and boil the cauliflower for approximately 5 minutes
2. Purée
3. Steam curly kale until tender
4. Add to cauliflower along with the scallions, butter and salt and pepper to taste

We tried this for the first time last night and it was delicious! I served it with another traditional Irish food, corned beef (not to be confused with the mushy tinned or deli sliced variety!) which I cooked in the slow cooker for 5 hours.

Who needs a recipe?

You don't always need a recipe to create delicious healthy low carb lunches and dinners. You can grill any type of meat or fish and serve it with a pile of tasty vegetables or salad. If you miss your potatoes, replace them with cauliflower purée. A fillet steak served with garlic butter (always make your own - just add crushed or sliced garlic to softened butter - to avoid hidden additives) and a salad is gorgeous and perfect for when you need fast food. Or what about salmon darnes, oven baked with lemon in tinfoil parcels.

We eat a lot of salads in our house, particularly during the Summer. Not just as an accompaniment to meat or fish but as a complete dish in their own right. Sometimes we cook a ham and serve it sliced with mixed leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, nuts and seeds. Or for lunch I might have lettuce with pears, stilton and walnuts. If you're particularly hungry, have a Niçoise salad because it contains tuna, egg and olives.

We tend to have a roast dinner on a Sunday. We serve it with roasted vegetables, mashed turnip or carrots. You can't have normal gravy as it is made with flour but you can make an alternative sauce using sour cream and stock, heated gently together. Another favourite of ours is to spatchcock a chicken, marinate it in Frank's sauce and then roast it. We serve it with homemade coleslaw.

Steak and salad

Spatchcock roast chicken with homemade coleslaw

Fish Pie

This is a recipe that I have adapted from one of Jamie Oliver's. We have this for dinner regularly as it's so delicious but also easy to make. I get the fish in Aldi as it comes with the skin removed and the packets are a good size for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 large cauliflower, puréed (see http://lowcarbhealthily.blogspot.ie/2015/06/cauliflower-saviour-of-low-carb-diet.html)
1 large carrot
100g cheddar cheese
20g parmesan
250g cod, diced
250g smoked coley, diced
200g crème fraîche
handful of fresh spinach
Tbsp lemon juice
Tbsp parsley
Tbsp olive oil

1. Peel and grate carrot directly into the dish you are using to cook the fish pie
2. Grate the parmesan and half the cheddar into the dish
3. Add fish, crème fraîche, spinach, lemon juice, olive oil and parsley
4. Mix well
5. Top with cauliflower purée
6. Sprinkle remaining grated cheddar on top
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for 30 - 40 minutes
8. Serve

Cottage Pie

This is the easiest thing in the world to cook. Just use your usual cottage/shepherd's pie recipe and top with cauliflower purée instead of mashed potatoes. If you don't have a recipe, here's mine!

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
400g lean minced beef
1 beef stock cube
4 tsps Worcestershire sauce
10 button mushrooms, sliced
1 large cauliflower
20g cheddar, grated

1. Sauté onion in a large frying pan until soft
2. Add beef and cook until thoroughly browned
3. Add mushrooms
4. Crumble in stock cube, Worcestershire sauce and about 4 tablespoons of boiling water
5. Mix well and simmer for 10 minutes
6. Transfer the meat mixture into an ovenproof dish
7. Chop cauliflower into florets and steam or boil for 8 minutes
8. Drain and purée (I use a stick blender)
9. Cover meat mixture with the cauliflower
10. Sprinkle grated cheddar over the top
11. Cook in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 200°C or until heated through and cheese has melted and browned
12. Serve with steamed green beans and carrots

Cauliflower, the saviour of the low carb diet!

Cauliflower is an amazingly versatile vegetable and can be a godsend for the low carber! It can be used as a replacement for potatoes, rice and pasta in many dishes. It can be puréed as a topping for shepherds pie and fish pie. It can be grated as an alternative to rice. And it can be included in a bake instead of pasta.

Cauliflower Purée
Boil or steam until just beginning to get soft (approx. 6 minutes). Drain and purée with a blender.

Cauliflower Rice
Grate the head of cauliflower (don't chop first) and pan fry with a little coconut oil until heated through.