Beef & Sweet Potato Pie — I eat my peas

This is a modern twist on the old nursery classic- cottage pie- and its a great dish if you are feeding the whole family as its delicious for all ages and packed full of flavour and veggies- young children particularly like having it served up in individual dishes (as pictured below) but if you don't have any then you can easily just layer it up in a medium-sized ovenproof dish or blitz it all down for babies who aren't quite ready for texture.

Serves 2 adults and 1-2 small children

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2 tbsp olive oil

250g lean beef mince

180g red onion, diced

150g carrot, roughly grated

3 cloves garlic, crushed

6 tbsp tomato passata

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp Worchester sauce, optional

200ml vegetable stock or water

275g sweet potato (peeled weight), cut into 1-cm dice

15g cheddar cheese, grated

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Heat 1 tbsp oil in a medium ovenproof dish with a heavy bottom (I use a shallow Le Creuset) and over a high heat brown the mince. Remove with a slotted spoon and leave any residual oil. Add the final 1 tbsp olive oil and the onion. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent it catching. Add the carrot, garlic, passata, tomato puree, balsamic and, if using, the Worchester sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes. Return the mince to the pan along, with the stock, and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and allow it to cook for 25-30 minutes by which time it should have reduced slightly and have a wonderfully meaty flavour. Meanwhile, steam or boil the sweet potato cubes for 15 minutes or until tender.

Once everything is ready scatter the sweet potato cubes over the mince, followed by the cheese and place under the grill for 8-10 minutes or until bubbling.

For early weaning: mix everything together and blitz down to a manageable consistency before freezing into individual portions.

For freezing: allow the mince to cool before portioning up and scattering over the potato and cheese

Just for adults? add 1/2 tsp salt to the mince