Jamie Oliver Allotment Cottage Pie (Slow Cooker)

Source video by Jamie Oliver on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules.

Jamie's allotment pie is built on respect for veg: each root brings its own character, hard-roasted in rosemary-infused oil to deepen the flavour, then everything goes in the slow cooker with a Marmite-and-porcini gravy that does the savoury work usually done by mince. The hob and oven stages from his original become slow cooker stages, roots in flavoured oil for 30 minutes on the hob, then four hours low in the pot with the gravy and a tin of lentils. Mash with butter, seasoning and milk goes on top, oven 30 minutes at 190°C to brown, and the rosemary leaves crisped earlier scatter over the finished pie.

Ingredients

• 2 tbspextra virgin olive oil
• 3 sprigsfresh rosemary
• 3 carrotscarrots, hacked into chunks
• 0.5 swedeswede, peeled, chunked
• 0.5 celeriacceleriac, peeled, chunked
• 2 leeksleeks, washed, sliced into chunks
• cumin seeds

• 10 gdried porcini mushrooms
• 600 mlboiling water
• 1 onionred onion, peeled, quartered
• 1 tspMarmite (or Vegemite)
• 3 tbsptomato puree
• 1 tin (400 g)tinned cooked lentils, drained

• 1.2 kgfloury potatoes, peeled, chopped
• unsalted butter
• whole milk
• fine salt and black pepper

Method

1. Warm the olive oil in a large casserole pan over a medium heat. Add the rosemary sprigs whole and fry for 1 minute to infuse the oil and crisp the leaves.

   ~2 min

2. Lift the rosemary out and set aside on kitchen paper. The leaves should be snappy and bright, these crisp up further and scatter over the finished pie.

   ~1 min

3. Add the chopped carrots, swede, celeriac and leeks to the rosemary-flavoured oil. Sprinkle in the pinch of cumin seeds. Cook for 30 minutes on a medium heat, stirring every few minutes, until the veg is just colouring and the flavours have intensified.

   ~30 min

4. Meanwhile, set the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer until tender, around 18-22 minutes.

   ~22 min

5. Make the gravy: in a blender, combine the dried porcini, the 600 ml boiling water, the quartered red onion, the Marmite and the tomato puree. Blitz smooth.

   ~2 min

6. Tip the roast veg into the slow cooker. Pour the porcini gravy over, scraping any sticky caramelisation from the bottom of the pan into the slow cooker too, that's pure flavour.

   ~3 min

7. Stir in the drained tin of lentils. Cover.

   ~1 min

8. Cook on low for 4 hours, or high for 2 hours, until the swede and celeriac are tender and the gravy is thick.

   ~240 min

9. Drain the potatoes, return to the pan, and mash with the butter, milk, salt and pepper.

   ~5 min

10. Tip the filling into a large oven dish. Use a fork to let it rain random chunks of mash over the top, leaving a rustic surface.

    ~5 min

11. Bake at 190°C / 170°C fan / gas 5 / 375°F for 30 minutes until golden and bubbling at the edges.

    ~30 min

12. Crumble the crispy rosemary leaves over the top and serve with steamed greens.

    ~1 min

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