Cottage pie with tater tots

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef

6 white mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion (diced)

3 garlic cloves (crushed)

1/2 small red or purple cabbage or green cabbage (finely shredded)

1 large carrot (diced)

1 cup peas (frozen)

1/2 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 bag tater tots

cheese (shredded)

mozzarella cheese (shredded)

1 packet gravy (makes 2 cups of gravy)

lard or butter or olive oil

salt

pepper

Directions:

Set oven to 375F and bake tater tots for 20-30 minutes so that one side is crispy.

On medium heat, place some butter in a pan and sauté mushrooms until they are browned. Add onions and garlic to the mushrooms. Cook until the onions are translucent. Place in a bowl and set aside.

Next fry up the ground beef and simmer until it is slightly undercooked. Drain the excess fat. Add the mushrooms and onions in with the ground beef. Add carrots and flour to mixture. The flour will absorb the fat from the meat to become a roux. Once the carrots have slightly softened, add chicken broth to the mixture. Wait until the liquid starts to boil which will cause it to thicken from the roux. Finally add in the peas and turn off the heat.

In a separate pan, fry cabbage in lard at medium to high heat until it is soft. With cabbage, we want to slightly burn it a bit to caramelize it. It gives off a much better flavour to it. I prefer my cabbage extremely soft almost melting in my mouth. As a side note, I noticed that the water turned blue when I rinsed the cabbage. It turns out that there is a chemical called anthocyanin. The colour depends on the pH. If the water is acidic (<7) it turns red. If the water is alkaline (>7) the colour is blue. From the 2nd picture, our tap water is definitely alkaline. When the cabbage is cooked, toss in with the contents from the other pan. 

For the gravy, just follow the instructions on the packet. I prefer the Swiss Chalet brand. 1 packet makes 2 cups of gravy. Once the gravy is done, mix in with the beef. Add salt and pepper to taste. I usually just add pepper as I find the gravy is already salty enough.

Ladle the filling into a 9" x 12" x 2"casserole dish. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of the mixture. Place a layer of tater tots, crispy side down on top of the cheese. Bake at 425F for 30-40 minutes. This recipe provides a large serving of fiber that will have you playing the trumpet all night.

Addendum: Cheddar cheese is very fat and is not recommended for topping this dish causing the tater tots to be soaking in fat. Lots of fat. You can see the layer of oil in the first photo. However mixing the cheddar cheese with the filling is fine provided you place a layer of mozzarella between the filling and the tater tots. It will make the dish so much more rich and decadent. 

Green cabbage has a better appearance than red cabbage, but there's no discernible difference in taste or texture. In my first attempt at this recipe I only had red cabbage on hand. I needed to use it up before it went bad. Subsequent times I've made this dish, I've elected to go with green cabbage.