I thought it is time to share my cottage pie here for you all as this is the dish loved by the hubby and my irish family I work with. I have made this dish many, many times and the great thing is you can batch cook and freeze for those busy days or if you have teenagers in the house. Make this on Monday and have it in the fridge for them to enjoy for the week for lunch, dinner or late night munchies. I use carrots and peas in my pie to make sure everyone gets their vegies in as well. The best is to prepare all your ingredients and then start cooking. As the chopping and dicing will take some time, but you can cheat and buy frozen diced vegetables to use instead. I must say if you make it today and have it tomorrow it is even better as the flavours develop so well the next day. The pie is topped with parmesan mashed potatoes as I just love cheese but if you are not a fan of cheese you can make it without the parmesan. This recipe is a bit of effort, but so worth it. Have fun playing with the recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 Onions, chopped
- 2tbs Olive Oil
- 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
- 2 Carrots, diced
- 1/2 cup Frozen Peas
- 650g Beef Mince
- 750 Beef Stock
- 1tsp Thyme
- 1tsp Oregano
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 2 tbs Ketchup
- 2 tbs Worcestershire Sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2tsp Bisto dissolved in 1tbs water
- PARMESAN MASHED POTATO
- 1 kg Potatoes, cut up in chunks
- 1tsp Salt
- Water
- 200ml Milk
- 30 ml Butter
- pinch of White Pepper
- 150g – 200g Parmesan grated, some extra for scattering over the pie
Method
- In a large frying pan or deep pan add the oil and fry the onions until soft and translucant. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute.
- Add the beef mince and fry until nice and browned. Then add the carrots, thyme, oregano, bay leaves and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the stock, ketchup and worcestershire sauce and cook for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile make the mashed potatoes by boiling the potatoes in salted water until soft. Drain and let it steam dry for a minute or so. Now mash the potatoes add the butter and stir well. Add the milk, white pepper and parmesan and mix well. taste your mash and adjust your seasoning. Set it aside
- Check your mince and add the peas. Cook it for 3 minutes before adding the bisto. Let it cook for a few minutes and check your seasoning.
- When it is ready spoon the mince mix in an oven proof dish. Now top it with your parmesan mash. Scatter some extra parmesan on top.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake the pie for 40 minutes until the mash is golden brown and the pie is bubbling.
- Take out and let it stand for a few minutes before serving.
thezestysausage.com 