cottage pie

HelzBelz

If I'm making cottage pie with pork mince I tend to use pork stock or cube and white wine, then before I put the potato on top I put small slices of apple in with the mince and veg (the way my logic worked it was you have pork with apple sauce)

tooting_jane

I use beef mince, chopped onion, finely diced carrots, cooked red lentils, tin of veg soup, dash of tomato puree, beef stock cube, salt, pepper, herbs etc

I dry fry the mince, add the onion then the carrots then the tin of soup, tomato puree and lentils. Then I add the seasoning. I cook the mixture on the stove top for around half an hour once everything is in the pan.

Then it goes into an oven dish and I top with mash and it goes into the oven for around 30 mins.

Pink.

Hi boo,

There are some recipes for shepherds/cottage pie on these older threads:

cottage pie

Shepherds/cottage pie

What makes Shephards Pie different to....

Pink

emmie1234

I use beef mince, chopped onion, sliced mushrooms. tin of carrots, few frozen peas, beef stock cubes, tom puree, dash of worcester sauce and a teeny bit of thyme. If I want a thinker gravy/sauce I stir in some gravy granules.

Lucie_2

I don't like lamb, so we only ever have it with beef. I like to make it with the diced leftover meat from a Sunday roast, much more substantial than mince.

The usual beef, onion, carrot are joined by mushrooms, garlic, bay leaves, a generous shake of worcester sauce, tomato puree & beef stock. I like a good slug of red wine in there too - last time I made it I didn't have any red wine, so I used port. It was delish!!!

beachbeth

I chop an onion and fry it with the smallest amount of oil. Once soft, I add the beef mince and fry this until brown. I then add an oxo beef cube and sliced carrots and cook until the carrots are soft. I then add frozen peas and then finish by draining a lot of the liquid out and stirring in bisto gravy to thicken it up. I put this in a serving dish and top with mashed potato and cheese which I melt under the grill. Yum!

My sister-in-law does a lovely cottage pie too but doesn't do any frying at the beginning. She just puts the onion, mince and carrots in salted water and then finishes off as I do with the peas and gravy.

lil_me

I have this issue with the potato sinking into it, someone suggested putting it in the fridge before putting the mash on top which I will try next time.

demonicangel

I do it with beef mince.

I put a tiny amount of oil in the frying pan and gently fry a chopped onion. I then add the mince and brown. Once its brown, I drain it off very well. I then add tomato puree, garlic and herbs. I then add a stock cube with with half a pint of water, season and reduce til theres hardly any liquid left.

I then put it in the dish, add the mash and top with cheese that I mix with an egg. Very yum!

lil_me, I think that happens when the mince is too wet.

meanmarie

I usually use beef mince, but have done with pork and lamb too...I liked your idea Pollycat of different names for different meats.

I use a large onion finely chopped, couple of cloves of garlic, carrot, celery....whatever veg I have got really. I start by dryfrying mince, then add veg, cover and simmer for half an hour or so, add beef stock cube, herbs...parsley, thyme, sage, mint, rosemary singly or a mixture of whatever you like, add tbsp of oxtail soup mix and about a pint of water, bring to boil and cook stirring for a few minutes. I try to do this a couple of hours at least before I put on potato topping, as it seems to firm up a bit and then potatoes are less likely to sink into mince mixture, which has always been a problem with me too Lil_me. My family like lots of gravy, so maybe an idea would be to let most of the liquid evaporate, as demonicangel does, and serve gravy on the side.

I love shepherds pie but find that my fussy OH and DD4 will not eat it from frozen, so I freeze the meat bit and top with freshly cooked and mashed potatoes.

Hmmm...hungry now,

Marie

lil_me

Possibly demonicangel, never thought of that, I'll put less fluid in next time aswell.