Serves 6 (generous helpings)
Prep time | 10 minutes
Cooking time | 40-50 minutes
• Cottage pie is an old family favourite. It’s often called Shepherd’s pie, but traditionally that is made with leftover Sunday lamb roast. This recipe features a richly flavoured savoury mince with a golden potato topping.
Ingredients
• 4 Sebago or Dutch cream potatoes (about 800g)
• 50g butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 small brown onions, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 750g lean beef mince
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced small
• ½ cup tomato paste
• ¼ cup plain flour
• 1 cup beef stock
• ground black pepper
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Peel the potatoes and boil in a large pot of salted water until tender. Drain and mash immediately with half the butter, milk and half the salt. Set aside.
3. In a large frypan or chef’s pan, heat the oil over a medium high heat and add the onion, celery and carrot. Saute for 5 minutes or until transparent and fragrant. Add the beef and cook for a further 6-8 minutes, breaking up any lumps with a spoon, until all the meat has browned.
4. Add the tomato paste and sauté for a further minute. Sprinkle the flour over the meat mixture and stir to mix through. Add the stock a little at a time until all incorporated. The meat mixture should be a lovely dark brown colour, and the gravy will be rich.
5. Place the meat mixture into a 22 x 22cm square glass or ceramic baking dish. Carefully spread the mashed potato over the top and rough it up with a fork – this will help to create lovely crispy bits on top. Dot the top with the remaining butter.
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the top is quite a deep golden brown.
