Yet more delights for Dukan dieters.
This isn’t strictly Dukan-friendly, because butterbeans aren’t on the list of allowed veg, but I reckon a bit of flexibility is no bad thing, and you can always leave them out, although you may then need to reduce the amount of creme fraiche in the topping so it doesn’t turn out too sloppy. I’d also normally add a few frozen peas to the mince before adding the topping, however on this occasion I was playing with the cat and I forgot.
500g lean minced beef
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 carrot, grated
2 large sticks celery, chopped
A few button mushrooms, chopped
250ml red wine
1 tsp English mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp anchovy sauce
3 bay leaves
Squeeze of tomato paste
1 beef stock cube
Salt and pepper
For the topping
1 cauliflower, separated into florets and steamed
1 tin butterbeans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp fromage frais
1 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche
1 tsp horseradish (I use the plain grated kind but I expect creamed would work fine too)
Brown the mince well. Remove it from the pan and add the vegetables, stirring and cooking until the onions are transparent. Return the meat to the pan along with the other ingredients and 250ml of water. Cover and cook slowly for a couple of hours, removing the lid near the end of the cooking time to allow the sauce to reduce – the cauliflower mash topping isn’t as absorbent as potato so you want this to be quite dry.
Put all the ingredients for the mash into a food processor and process until more or less smooth – a bit of texture is quite nice to have, I think.
Add your frozen peas if you’re using them, spoon the mince into an ovenproof dish, top with the mash and cook at about 180°C until the topping is lovely and brown.
I served this with gem squash – they are among my favourite of all autumn veg. Just prick their skins (otherwise they burst, which is quite fun really, so don’t worry if you forget) and cook in boiling water for about 20 minutes, until a knife easily pierces the skin. Cut in half, scoop out the seeds and discard, then scrape out the flesh and season.
Honestly, the photography on this blog gets worse and worse. It’s because we’re generally too hungry at the time to be messing about with tripods.
