The Cottage Pie is a pie made from beef and common garden vegetables. In America, a lot of restaurants use beef in their “Shepherd’s Pie” instead of the classic ground lamb. This is a hearty meal, packed with a lot of wholesome ingredients! I’ve made this dish several times in college for my friends.
This recipe is influenced by Gordon Ramsay’s Shepherd’s Pie recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1.5 lb ground beef
- 1 large carrot
- 1 large yellow onion
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 6 oz. of ketchup
- 1 cup of chicken stock
- 6-7 medium yellow potatoes (Yukon Gold works best)
- ½ cup of whole milk
- 8 tbsp of melted butter
- 2 whole egg yolks
- 5oz. of grated parmesan
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions:
- Peel and chop potatoes into 1 inch cubes.
- Put in pot and fill with water 2 inches higher than potatoes. Bring to a boil and let boil for 20-30 minutes.
- In a skillet, (preferably cast iron), put olive oil and beef and put on medium heat until meat is browned.
- While meat is browning, preheat oven to 425. Mince rosemary and thyme.
- Once meat is browned, drain meat of any liquid.
- Next, grate onion and carrot into the meat. Stir and cook on medium for 2 minutes.
- Next stir in the ketchup.
- Finally, add in the rosemary and thyme, and add any salt and pepper as needed. Let cook down for about 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock and let cook down for 15 minutes.
- Once the mince mixture is cooking down, the potatoes should be ready.
- Check potatoes with a fork, if they are ready, the fork should slide straight through. If so, drain and place in medium size bowl.
- Mash the potatoes, then add egg, butter. Add milk in about 1/4 cup at a time until its at the right consistency.
- Next mix in 4oz. of parmesan and the salt and pepper.
- The mash should be thick at this point. With a spatula, spread the mash on top of the mixture evenly into the cast iron skillet or baking dish.
- With a fork, poke holes on the top and finalize by putting the rest of the parmesan on top.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until mash is golden brown.
Hope you enjoy this recipe! It’s a great English/American dish for you and your family to devour!