Spice up your family’s comfort food - Niall McKenna

Sometimes I like to jazz up my family classics with a bit of spice. However, if you don’t have much experience cooking with spice, I strongly recommend following a recipe to avoid steam coming out of your ears! We were lucky enough to have the legendary chef Ken Hom, leading authority on Chinese cuisine, with us at Waterman this month, which has inspired me to add a bit of spice to this classic comfort food – Spiced Cottage Pie. On the theme of comfort food that’s hearty and filling, this week’s second recipe is Stuffed Red Peppers.

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Read more: Chef Niall McKenna on his first cookbook and his plans for a new Belfast restaurant - plus recipes from What’s It All About?

Spiced Cottage Pie

Ingredients

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(Serves 4)

· 500g beef, minced

· 500ml beef stock

· 1 onion, finely diced

· 2 carrots, finely diced

· 150g mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

· 3 cloves garlic, crushed

· 1 chilli, deseeded and finely diced

· 2 tsp ground cumin

· 1 tsp ground coriander

· 1 bay leaf

· 2 tbsp tomato purée

· Olive oil

For the topping:

· 500g Maris Piper potatoes, chopped

· 20g butter, unsalted

· 60ml warmed full fat milk

· 20g cheddar, grated

· Sea salt

· Ground black pepper

Method

· Preheat the oven to 200C.

· For the filling, place the oil in a large pan and bring to a gentle heat. Next, add in the onion, carrot, mushrooms, garlic and chilli for nine minutes until soft and translucent.

· Next, add in the bay leaf, spiced cumin and coriander for a further three minutes until fragrant.

· In a separate pan, add a little oil and bring to a high heat to brown off the mince

· Once browned, add in the vegetables, cover with the stock and mix in the tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper.

· For the topping, place the potatoes in a pot of salted boiling water until soft. Drain, return to pot and mash in the butter and warmed milk over a gentle heat. Season with salt and pepper.

· Transfer mince to an oven proof baking dish and cover with the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle over the cheese and cook for 30 minutes. You can do this as one big pie or several small pies.

Read more: ‘Belfast - I couldn’t have done it without you,’ says chef Niall McKenna in debut cookbook

Stuffed Red Peppers

Ingredients

· 400g red kidney beans, tinned

· 200g black eyed beans, tinned

· 2 red peppers, washed, halved and deseeded

· 2 tbsp olive oil

· 2 small onions, sliced

· 2 cloves garlic, chopped

· 500g lean minced beef

· 3 tbsp Worcester sauce

· 2 red chillis, deseeded and sliced

· 400g chopped tomatoes

· Sea salt

· Ground black pepper

· 2 tbsp water

Method

· To start, heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof dish on a medium heat.

· Next, sauté the chopped onions and garlic. Once soft, add in the mince and Worcester sauce, increasing the heat until browned. Then, stir in the chopped chilli and reduce the heat.

· Next, strain the kidney and black-eyed beans, adding to the minced beef and chopped tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

· Reduce the heat to a simmer, place the lid on and leave for 20 minutes to cook through.

· Once mince and beans are cooked through, place red peppers on a roasting tray and fill with the cooked ingredients. Place in oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes or until cooked through.

· Garnish with grated cheese of any hard variety and chopped parsley.