‘Pueblo’ Pie

This recipe was born at Uni – a product of being a bit skint, wanting some good warming food and having a packet of mince.  It’s a spicy take on traditional cottage pie, replacing the traditional English veg with peppers, and chucking in spices.  The other main variation which I added after reading a Latin American cook book was to add sweet corn to topping.  Anyway, enjoy…:

Ingredients
(Serves 4 – unless it’s me an Trina, as we have been known to pack this away between us over several hours… particularly in the run up to finals…)

400g beef or lamb mince (I find beef works better with this one as it’s less fatty)
1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 red and 1 green pepper, sliced into chunky slices
3 tsp of paprika (or 2 of smoked paprika)
2 tsp cajun spices
1 tsp hot chilli powder
1tsp cumin
1 glass red wine
1 tbsp HP sauce
1 can of tinned tomatoes
1 good quality stock cube/sachet (I may be a victim of advertising, but i really like the Knorr Stock Pots that Marco Pierre-White advertises…)
4 floury potatoes
1 corn on the cob
50g of grated good mature cheddar (have to recommend the Tickler that Trina’s firm make – bloody gorgeous)
2 tbsp sunflower oil

Method
Start by seasoning the meat – and mixing about half of the paprika, chilli and cajun into the mince.  Then brown the mince in a heavy wide pan with half the oil (don’t put too much in at once as it will overload the pan and the meat will start to stew rather than brown…). Once browned, remove the meat and chuck in the onions and peppers and rest of the spices – cook until tender and the onions have started to brown, then throw in the red wine and cook off the alcohol.  Add the meat back to the pan, and the tinned tomatoes, HP and stock cube.  Cover and let this cook on a low heat while you’re doing the rest.  You want it to be relatively thick.

Boil the potatoes as normal until tender, then remove and mash with a little butter or milk (you don’t want to make them too runny, but you do want them to be spreadable).  Also cook the corn on the cob until tender, then scrape off the corn with a fork.

Pour the filling in to an ovenproof dish, then spread the mash over the top, then sprinkle the corn, then the cheese over the top.  You can finish it with a dusting of paprika or flaked chilli depending on how hot you want to make it.  Place the pie in pre-heated oven (about 200 degrees, Gas Mark 6) for about 20 mins until the cheese browns.  Then serve and eat… carefully – it’ll be quite hot!!