Sunday Supper #9

Hi everybody, it's Ben. Here to let you all know that I can cook too. Now, to be fair, most of my meals involve cooking meat over fire so there is usually not much to write about. Mother nature doesn't always cooperate with the grilling weather so here is one of my indoor favorites. Nothing beats Cottage pie on a cold rainy autumn day. That is exactly what we were dealing with this last Sunday.

Follow the jump to view the recipe.



Many people may know this meal as Shepherd's Pie. Cottage pie is beef and Shepherd's is lamb.

• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 500 grams / 1 lb of ground beef
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1 tablespoon of ketchup
• 1 tablespoon of Worcester sauce
• ½ cup of peas
• ½ cup of corn kernels
• 2 cloves garlic
• Herbs: 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp oregano, ½ tsp rosemary and one whole bay leaf
• ¾ to 1 cup of beef stock
• 3 to 4 large potatoes
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• salt and pepper

Peel and chop the onion and carrot finely. Brown the beef with onion. Once mixture is thoroughly browned stir through the flour and cook for one minute. Add the tomato sauce, Worcester sauce, finely chopped carrot, peas, corn and herbs + bay leaf. Stir thoroughly to combine. Gradually add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cover, simmering for 10 to 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. The mixture should be quite thick. Remove and discard the bay leaf and spoon into the pie dish.

Peel the potatoes, chop into quarters and place in a medium saucepan with cold water just covering the potatoes. Add a little salt to the water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. When the potatoes are cooked, drain, leaving a bit of the water in with the potatoes. Mash the potatoes with one tablespoon of butter until the potato is very creamy - add a little milk if necessary. Add salt to taste.

Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375°F. Spoon or pipe the creamy mashed potato over the meat & vegetable mixture. Sprinkle grated cheese on top if desired and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the potato is golden and the pie is heated through.

There you have it.  Serve it up in a big bowl with some fresh bread.  Enjoy.

Some notes:  I went a little overboard when peeling potatoes.  You don't need to use as much as I had in the pictures.  Carla is responsible for the nice texturing of the mashed potatoes in that picture.  It was a fun idea.  The recipe calls for beef stock but I prefer vegetable stock...no big deal either way.  I also tend to use more veggies than the recipe calls for.  Please, do not ruin this dish with canned peas, only frozen will do.  That goes for every meal, not just this one. This dish is already fully cooked before it goes in the oven.  As long as you work quickly, the food will still be hot.  All that's really necessary is a few mins under the broiler to give the top some color. 

BEN.