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| Savoury cottage pie |
When I go to the frozen food aisle of the grocery store in
search of shepherds pie, I find a flat brick of a casserole made with ground
beef, gravy, a scant handful of vegetables and a topping of mashed potatoes.
There are two flaws in this scenario.
- What I
have found is not, strictly speaking, a shepherds pie. Foodies and
lexicographers will tell you that a shepherds pie is made with lamb or
mutton. Make the same casserole with beef and it’s a cottage pie. You can
research this at length on the internet and here’s a link from the British
news outlet The Guardian to get you started.
- Regardless
of what you call it, the store-bought version will never ever be as good as the
cottage pie you make in your own kitchen.
This cottage pie recipe is based on a Gordon Ramsay recipe I
found several years ago on Recipezaar (which has since become food.com). My
version makes a savoury supper dish in a quantity large enough for sharing or
freezing for future use. As you’ll see in the last photo in this post, I made two 9” round
casseroles (one for dinner, one for the freezer) plus one single-serve casserole
to freeze and take to my mom.
There are a few ways to tailor your cottage pie to suit your
tastes and your pantry. You can play with the type of vegetables you want to
use. For instance, parsnips, turnips, and mushrooms work well. Just keep them
finely diced or grated so everything cooks up evenly and the pie keeps its
characteristic minced texture. The food processor is your friend for this task. I like the flavour that a good red wine gives
the ground beef, but you can substitute beef stock if you prefer. The mashed
potato topping is traditional and delicious. I’ve used Parmesan with the
potatoes, but cheddar complements this dish very well, too. I’ve also used
mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes to top the cottage pie. If you do this,
I recommend steaming the cauliflower, as boiling it makes the mash a little too
watery.
However you choose to make this dish your own, I hope you and yours enjoy this cottage pie.
MA's Cottage Pie
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| Cottage pie ingredients |
Preheat oven to 350º F.
Have ready 2 - 9” round casserole dishes or 1 - 9” x 13”
casserole dish
2 tbsp olive oil (if ground beef is fatty, omit the oil)
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 cup celery, finely diced
2 cups onions, grated
2 cups carrots, grated
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 cups red wine (substitute with beef stock, if preferred)
1 cup beef stock
3 to 4 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
4 tbsp butter
2 egg yolks
2 to 4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
sea salt and black pepper, to taste
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| Cooking down the filling |
In a large frying pan, heat the oil. Add ground beef and
sauté until cooked through.
Add celery, onions, carrots, and garlic. Saute until
vegetables are softened.
Add Worcestershire, puree, herbs, wine and beef stock. Cook
together for 15 minutes or until the liquids have cooked down and the sauce is
thickened.
Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until cooked through. Drain and
let stand a few minutes to dry out slightly. Mash the potatoes together with
butter, egg yolks, cheese, salt and pepper.
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| Enough to share |
Place beef filling in casserole dishes.
Cover beef filling with mashed potato topping. Grate extra
cheese on top of pie.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or cool and wrap for the freezer.
To cook from frozen, defrost in the refrigerator, unwrap and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or unwrap and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until pie is cooked through.
