Thread: PAG's Cottage Pie

Slight variation of my usual recipe. This will serve 8-10, or if Dill and LuLu are in attendance 3 or 4.



Start of with putting a dash of olive oil in a large saucepan, and browning 2kg of good minced beef.



When browned, remove from the pan and put to one side, then add a couple more dashes of olive oil. Chop up 2 onions, 3 carrots and 3 stalks of celery, add them to the pan and gently cook for around 20 minutes until tender.



then add 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, 3 tbsps plain flour and 1 tbsp of tomato puree. Continue cooking for a few minutes, then add a glass of red wine (continue cooking until the wine has reduced). Then add 4 tbsps of Worcester sauce, 850ml beef stock, a few sprigs of fresh Thyme, and a few bay leaves. Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 45 minutes. Once you have a nice thick mixture, turn it into the oven dish.



Best to now allow it to cool before adding the potato topping, which will help prevent the potato from sinking into the beef mix.

For the potatoes, peel around 2kg of decent potatoes (I've used American Russets for this), and put into cold salted water in a large pan. Once brought to the boil and simmered for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, then drain and leave in the pan for a few minutes to steam dry. Then, add 150g of grated mature or strong Cheddar cheese, some milk (I've used double cream left over from the Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe) and butter. Mash the potatoes well until there are no lumps, then add a couple of pinches of nutmeg and salt/pepper to taste.

Put the mashed potato on top of the beef mix, then sprinkle about 25g of grated Cheddar cheese over the top.



Then it's into the oven for around 30 minutes (or until the top is golden) at 200C.



Enjoy.

Looks great. Manly card reinstated

Great tips, especially about letting the beef mixture cool a bit before layering on the potatoes.

Originally Posted by PAG

This will serve 8-10, or if Dill and LuLu are in attendance 3 or 4.

.... yeah yeah yeah.


Top work Pag!

Juicing up here...!

Originally Posted by PAG

then add a glass of red wine

Man Card Witheld

Originally Posted by David48atTD

Looks great. Manly card reinstated

Originally Posted by Dillinger

Man Card Witheld

The Lord giveth ... and the Lord taketh it away.

Lord Farquaad was unavailable

That looks great Pag! Well done

my wife doess a couple of hundred cottage pies a week based upon fast food meals and the major problem is the mash potato after freezing.

She has worked out a way to stop the crystallisation of the mash liquid that turns to a watery mush.

I am thinking about starting a school to train other's about this god given art.

PAG's on fire!

That looks really great, PAG. Thanks for the detailed instructions!

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

That looks great Pag! Well done

my wife doess a couple of hundred cottage pies a week

Woah! Your wife cooks?! You've kept that a secret!

Taxi for Armstrong, LT !!!!!!!