Share the Cottage Pie

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.

1. 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.
2. 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

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

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.

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. 

Printable Recipe for MA's Cottage Pie

Make Ahead Meatballs

Baked and ready for the freezer. How will you use your meatballs?

Tis the season for another make ahead recipe! I'll be using my latest batch of meatballs over the holidays - most likely as an appetizer in a sweet and sour sauce and most certainly as part of the big family feast in a delicious mushroom gravy.

As always, buy the best ground beef you can get. I am fortunate that the local grocery grinds their own beef and does a good job of it, too. Thanks, Kevin, at Park Place. I like to keep these meatballs on the small size - about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. That way they're easy to pop into a sauce or enjoy in a meatball sub. If you decide to roll them into bigger balls, be sure to add some cooking time.

I use powdered onion and garlic instead of fresh in this recipe, because I can never mince the onion or garlic small enough to get the fine texture I want in the little meatballs. In this recipe, I've used only basic spices, but you can add what you like depending on how you plan to use the meatballs. For instance, throw in some basil and oregano, if your meatballs are going to have a mostly Italian future.

I've added instructions for freezing and using both non-cooked and pre-cooked meatballs. I prefer to pre-cook and then freeze them for future use as it speeds things up when I am ready to use them, but you can go either way.

MA's Make Ahead Meatballs

Get out the ingredients

6 lbs lean ground beef 

2 cups fine breadcrumbs
2 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
½ tsp ground pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Close the door and let them cook.

In a large bowl, mix together ground beef, breadcrumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, mustard and eggs. 

Form mixture into small balls, about 1 ½” in diameter. 

MA's Tip: An extra pair of hands make fast work of forming the meatballs. If your helper's meatballs don't look exactly like yours, don't panic. They'll all be delicious.

If freezing uncooked meatballs: Place meatballs on lightly oiled, foil-lined baking sheets. Cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 2 or more hours until meatballs are firmly frozen. Remove frozen meatballs and divide into portions for packaging. Package into plastic freezer bags or freezer containers. Label and freeze for up to six months. To use uncooked frozen meatballs, defrost and cook on lightly oiled, foil-lined baking sheet at 350° F. for 15 to 20 minutes.


If freezing cooked meatballs (my preference): Preheat oven to 350° F. Place meatballs on foil-lined baking sheets. Cook at 350° F. for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove meatballs to room temperature, foil-lined baking sheets, using a paper towel to gently wipe off any excess grease from meatballs. Place into freezer until meatballs are frozen through, about two hours. Remove frozen meatballs and divide into portions for packaging. Package into plastic freezer bags or freezer containers. Label and freeze for up to six months. To use cooked frozen meatballs, thaw in microwave or drop into warm sauce and allow to heat thoroughly. 

Makes about 8 1/2 dozen meatballs.

Printable Recipe for MA's Make Ahead Meatballs

Homey & Elegant Wild Rice Casserole

Wild Rice Casserole 

This is a casserole I've been making for many years. It brings together wild rice and mushrooms in a way that is at once homey and elegant. It's a favourite with our family and makes any meal a special occasion.

The original recipe comes from a 16-page, type-written handout from the Minnesota Paddy Wild Rice Research and Promotion Council. I don't remember how I came to get it. The introduction to the recipes explains that, in 1981, the Council brought together a small group of food editors from national magazines "for two days of seeing and learning about wild rice." This included "a comprehensive wild rice preparation workshop in the kitchen of Beatrice Ojakangas where they spent a morning cooking wild rice and sat down to what was described as 'probably the largest all-wild rice meal ever prepared in Minnesota!'"

The recipe here is my own spin on one of Beatrice Ojakangas' recipes. If you'd like to know more about this renowned chef and cookbook author and check out some of her more recent recipes, visit beatrice-ojakangas.com.

MA's Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lining up ingredients

2/3 cup uncooked wild rice

2 cups water

½ tsp salt

½ lb fresh mushrooms, sliced

½ cup butter

¼ cup flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dried marjoram leaves

½ tsp dried thyme leaves

2 cups milk

3 tbsp dry sherry or port

¼ cup (about 8 crackers) crushed soda crackers

2 tbsp butter, melted

Sprinkle flour mixture over mushrooms

Wash wild rice in three changes of hot tap water. Place the wild rice, water and ½ tsp salt into saucepan. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 to 40 minutes or until wild rice is tender. Drain any excess water.

In a large fry pan, sauté mushrooms in butter over low heat about 5 minutes or until mushrooms are soft.

Mix together flour, salt, marjoram and thyme. Sprinkle mixture over mushrooms, then stir until mushrooms are coated.

Stir in milk. Bring mixture to boil and then reduce heat to low. Cook until thickened, stirring frequently.

Add sherry or port.

Add cooked wild rice to pan and stir well with love.

Butter a 2-quart casserole dish. Place rice/mushroom mixture into dish.

Mix together cracker crumbs and melted butter. Sprinkle over casserole.

Bake uncovered 30 minutes.

For Future Enjoyment: Let casserole cool. Cover tightly with casserole lid or plastic wrap. Label and place in freezer for up to one month. To reheat from frozen, remove from wrap/container. Place in 375° F. oven and heat until warmed through, 35-45 minutes. If thawed, warm through for about 20 minutes. Serve while warm.

Printable Recipe for MA's Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole

Quiche Today - Tarts Tomorrow

Bacon Cheddar Quiche

I find myself in a make ahead mood as the holidays get ever closer. Here's a way to make a very tasty bacon cheddar quiche to enjoy today plus nine tarts you can slide into the freezer for a quick addition to your holiday appetizer tray. (Of course, you can always opt to eat or freeze it all today.)

To start you will need some pastry dough, enough for one nine-inch pie shell and 9 tart shells. You can buy pre-made pastry dough and roll it out, or buy ready-made uncooked pie shells and tarts. It's up to you. I like to make a batch of pastry dough to have on hand in the freezer and will share that recipe in a future post (now posted at flaky lardy piecrust).

You will also need some bacon. Choose whatever kind you like - regular, low salt, maple - but I find that pork works better here than turkey bacon or other skillet strips. I cut the bacon into small pieces before frying it. A pair of kitchen shears makes this easy. I use old cheddar cheese but you can substitute a mild cheddar. For a different flavour experience, you can use a Swiss cheese. You can use any type of milk - I use skim - and any kind of cream - I use half-and-half, which is half milk, half cream (using any less cream will work but you'll miss some richness). It all depends on how much butterfat you want to include.

This quiche is great for dinner served with a nice fresh salad and is equally at home as part of a breakfast or brunch buffet.


Bacon Cheddar Quiche and Tarts

 Preheat oven to 375° F.

pastry dough or pre-made crusts, enough for 1-9” crust for quiche and 9 tart shells

1 lb bacon, cut into small pieces

2 cups onions, finely chopped

1 ½ cups old cheddar cheese, grated, and divided in half

6 large eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup half-and-half cream

½ tsp freshly grated or ground nutmeg

½ tsp freshly ground pepper

If using pastry dough, roll out the crust and fit into 9” pie plate, trimming excess from edge. Then roll out dough for tarts. Use cookie cutter or overturned glass to cut out nine circles and fit each into tart pan.

Use kitchen shears to cut bacon

Cut bacon into small pieces using a knife and/or kitchen shears. In a large pan, fry bacon until crisp but not dry. Place bacon on paper towels to sop up any excess fat. Remove most of the bacon fat from pan, leaving a little to coat the pan.

Gently sauté onions in remaining bacon fat until softened. (Instead of bacon fat, you can use a bit of butter or olive oil.)

Ready to fill shells

In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, cream, nutmeg and pepper. Stir well with lots of love. 

Into the prepared piecrust, place half of the cooked bacon bits and half of the cooked onions. Spoon half of the egg/milk mixture into the piecrust and top with half the cheese.

Divide the remaining bacon and onions between each of the prepared tart shells. Spoon the remaining egg/milk mixture into each of the tart shells and top each with remaining cheese.

Filled and ready for oven

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until top is lightly browned and filling is firm. (The pie will need about 5 minutes longer than the tarts.)

To Enjoy Today: Cool slightly and serve while warm.

For Future Enjoyment: Cool completely. Pie can be wrapped tightly in two layers of plastic wrap, labeled with date, and frozen for up to six months. Tarts can be placed in a freezer container lined with a layer of waxed paper or paper towels to keep them from shifting, labeled with date, and frozen for up to six months. To reheat from frozen, remove from wrap/container. Place on baking sheet in 375° F. oven and heat until warmed through, about 35-45 minutes. If thawed, warm through for about 20 minutes. Using the microwave for reheating is not recommended as the crust will not stay crisp. Serve while warm.

Printable Recipe for MA's Bacon Cheddar Quiche and Tarts

Bacon cheddar tart for future enjoyment