Good Morning Lovelies,

Christmas is now sadly over, leaving the cold leftovers behind. In our house, we find many creative ways to use them up. When it comes to the meat, my mum goes wild for sandwiches, slow cooker dishes and even turkey fajitas or chilli’s. As a vegetarian, I try to help use up some of the leftover veggies in my meals. 

With Brussels, broccoli, cabbage and more currently lining our vegetable drawers, we decided to put together a festive cottage pie recipe. I’ve been trying to conquer my fear of mash topped pies for a while now, so the remaining ingredients were a huge help. Especially when it came to creating this dish…

Ingredients 

A Butternut Squash

Selected Leftover Vegetables (Your choice of what you have left from the big day, such as Brussels, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, potatoes etc)

Vegetable Gravy Granules

Water

100g of Bulgur Wheat

Tools

Casserole or Baking Dish

Ceramic Bowl

Fork

Spoon

Small Plate

Knife 

Vegetable Peeler

Multi Steamer or Two Saucepans

A Jug

A Kettle

Smooth Edged Knife

Method

First, preheat your oven to 180c. Then find the perfect sized casserole or baking dish for you or your family/friends. Leave to one side.

Boil your kettle, placing the bulgur wheat into a bowl whilst waiting. When ready, pour enough water to cover the bulgur wheat before placing aside. Leave the bulgur to soak up all of the water whilst you prepare the vegetables. 

Chop and peel all of your chosen vegetables and the butternut squash, but keep them separate. Once you have done this, use a steamer or separate saucepans to boil or steam the vegetables and the butternut squash. 

As the vegetables cook and the bulgur wheat soaks, take a jug and make your gravy using the instructions found on your granules packaging. You want enough to completely cover your vegetables. 

Check the butternut squash. If it is soft, but not too soft, it is ready. Remove from the steamer or drain your saucepan, before using a potato masher to turn the squash into a smooth mash. Don’t add anything like butter or cream, as this could make it runny. When ready place to one side. 

Return to your veggies and check if they are now ready. If so, drain or remove from the steam and place to one side as well. 

Remove the plate from the bulgur wheat. The water should have soaked in, leaving a dry but soft consistency. Using a fork, fluff up the bulgur wheat. It should now be ready to use. Taking your casserole or baking dish, you can now start to complete the pie. 

Start by pouring and flattening the bulgur wheat at the bottom of the dish. Then pour on your vegetables, but not the butternut mash. 

When the two layers are ready, pour over your gravy. The vegetables and bulgur will begin to soak it up, but this is fine, as it means the dish will have a lot of flavour. 

Now grab your butternut squash and place over the previous layers. It should resemble a cottage or shepherds pie when it has all been placed on top. 

Allow the dish to stand for a few minutes before taking a knife and flattening the butternut to get a smooth topping. The dish is now ready to be cooked. 

Place into the preheated oven for around 30 to 40 minutes or until the butternut is no longer looking watery, but instead soft and fluffy. Once this has been achieved, the dish is now ready to be enjoyed. 

You could use leftover cheeses to top this dish lovelies or even fancy breadcrumbs. The dish is also great to enjoy with sauces, so if you have leftover cranberry sauce, why not pop it on the top. You can also add in leftover meat to the dish instead of or with the bulgur wheat lovelies. The choices and mixtures are endless! 

Joey X