Traditional Cottage Pie
Cottage pies have long been made to use up leftover roasted meat, and were either lined and topped, or just topped with a mashed potato crust
Ingredients
Method
Filling
- 500g Prime Beef or Lamb Mince
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove finely sliced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 400g can of chopped tomatoes
- 3 tsp powdered vegetable stock
- bunch of fresh parsley
- 120ml red wine
- 50g grated gruyere Cheese
Mash topping
- 225g parsnips, peeled and chopped
- 2 tsp creamed horseradish
- 450g potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 25g butter
- 30ml milk
- Preheat oven to 190 C.
- Heat the oil in a large pan and add onion, garlic and diced carrot. Cook over a medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes until softened.
- Add the minced beef or lamb and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes, stirring thoroughly to brown. Make sure you also break up ant larger pieces.
- Add the tomatoes, stock, parsley and red wine. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, then taste test and season if wished with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- To make the mash, boil potatoes and parsnips in a pot of salted water, from cold, until soft. Boiling from cold makes the best mash. Drain and smash together with the butter and milk, stirring in the horseradish (or chopped thyme if you prefer).
- Spoon the meat into a greased ovenproof dish or separate ramekins if you are having guests and you would like to make individual servings. Top the meat mixture with grated gruyere cheese before covering with mashed potato and parsnip. You can keep a little of the cheese for the topping if you like a cheesy top. Sprinkle with a few knobs of butter and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown.