Cottage Pie Recipe

Looking for a Cottage Pie Recipe? Well, look no further we have a simple step by step recipe with all the hints and tips and advice you need to make a great cottage pie.

Cottage Pie Ingredients - serves 6

The basic ingredients are potatoes, milk and butter for your mash, you can reduce the milk and butter if on a low fat diet. For the filling you will need beef mince or ground beef, Cottage Pie seasoning mix or make your own, beef stock or water (beef stock will create a more flavourful gravy), winter vegetables such as turnip, swede, parsnip (whatever you prefer and have available), onions, a little garlic if you like it, some flour to thicken the gravy, and some optional extras like a dash of worcester sauce. Be prepared to modify the recipe a little to suit your tastes and preferences.

For the Cottage Pie mash topping

  • 3kg Potatoes for mashing
  • 250ml Milk or cream
  • 2oz Butter
  • Salt to season

Peel the potatoes and chop into bite size pieces, place in a pan and cover with water, add a little salt and bring up to a boil. Boil the potatoes until soft all the way through. Drain and mash with a potato masher, adding the milk and butter and work in well removing any lumps as you go. Taste and add a little more salt if needed. Allow the Potato to cool completely as it will be hard to work with whilst hot and create a messy looking pie.

For the Cottage Pie filling

  • 1Kg Beef Mince or Ground Beef
  • 1 Litre Beef stock or water
  • 1 glass dry red wine (optional)
  • 50g Cottage Pie Seasoning
  • 1 Large white onion finely chopped
  • 4 Tbsp groundnut oil or light olive oil
  • 600g Mixed Winter Vegetables such as Turnip, parsnip, swede etc. Chopped into small cubes about 3-4 mm each side.
  • 3 Large carrots. Chopped into small cubes about 3-4 mm each side.
  • 1 Tbsp flour
  • 2 Cloves garlic crushed and finely chopped
  • 4 Tbsp Cream (optional)

Making the cottage pie filling

  1. Brown the beef in small batches in a hot frying pan. If the beef is lean use a little oil to lubricate the pan
  2. Put the browned beef to one side
  3. Meanwhile put the oil in a big stove top cassserole pot and cook the onions on a gentle heat until golden
  4. When the onions are golden add the seasoning and flour and brown with the onions mixing well.
  5. Add the meat to the pot when it is all browned
  6. While the browning pan is still very hot add the glass of red wine and scrape all the browned bits off the bottom with a spoon or spatula, pour them and the wine into the pot
  7. Add the carrots and winter veg, stir in well and pour over the beef stock or water until covered
  8. Simmer the casserole for 30-60 minutes until the liquid reduces and the gravy thickens to around the way you like it.
  9. Place the meat and veg in teh gravy into an ovenproof baking dish.
  10. Spoon on the cold potato and cover the whole top evenly
  11. Create a pattern using a fork to fluff up the topping this will ensure some peaks go really golden and crispy. An alternative is to wack a spoon up and down on the mash for a more rustic looking Cottage Pie but not too hard!
  12. Spoon a little melted butter around the topping and place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius for 40-60 minutes. Ensure the dish is piping hot all the way through and the crust has gone golden

Cottage pie is a delicious, easy to make highly nutritious one pot meal that is loved by nearly everybody

Trouble shooting your cottage pie recipe

It is a fairly simple recipe but things can go a bit wrong if you've not made it before. here are some of the common problems with cooking Cottage pie:

Gravy leaked out onto the topping
This can be caused by the gravy being too runny. You can reduce the liquid off by cooking on the hob longer or thicken with more flour. Also make sure the potato topping is deep and completely covers all the mince.

Meat is chewy
Cheaper cuts of mince need longer cooking, simmer on the hob for at least 60 minutes up to 2 hours until the mince is tender. More expensive cuts of mince can be ready in just 30 minutes

Topping not crispy and golden
Either leave it to cook longer or place under a hot grill to finish

Cottage Pie Seasonings

There are many cottage pie seasonings available at the supermarkets, but be careful as many are little more than salt and artificial flavourings.

We make our Cottage Pie Seasonings using fresh spices and prepare them in small batches for maximum freshness in a resealable sachet. They cost £3.99 for 1 sachet which is enough to make 2 Cottage pies. Alternatively you can buy 3 for the price of 2 and make 6 cottage pies for £7.98. Shipping to the UK is Free.

Our Price: £3.99 



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