Cottage pie – Enjoy a tasty bite of comfort food with the family

Cottage pie conjures childhood memories of mum’s kitchen engulfed in the most delicious flavours of comfort food. This dish is a delicious combination of minced beef meat seasoned with flavour-packed spices and herbs. Topped with fluffy mashed potatoes and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese smothered to a gooey softness in the oven and you have a winning comfort dish.

Cottage pie is an excellent alternative to the usual pastry pie. The mashed potato topping covered with grated cheese baked in the oven is simply divine.

Preparing cottage pie is a bit of a process but it comes together very easily. First, you need to cook the potatoes and the minced meat separately. Mash the potatoes when cooked. Next, place the cooked minced meat in an oven dish and top with the mashed potatoes and a generous sprinkle of cheese. Pop the dish into the oven and before long it will be baked to a golden-brown deliciousness. Serve warm with some green veggies or a garden salad.

Cottage pie recipe

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Asande Mpila Course: MainCuisine: GlobalDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

Total time

1

hour 

15

minutes

Ingredients

• 500 g 500 beef mince

• 6 teaspoons 6 olive oil

• 2 teaspoons 2 garlic, crushed

• 2 2 carrots, chopped

• 3 3 bay leaves

• ½ ½ red pepper

• ½ ½ green pepper

• ½ ½ yellow pepper

• 750 g 750 potatoes, chopped

• 1 1 onion, chopped

• 3 teaspoons 3 tomato puree

• 10 ml 10 salt and pepper

• 25 ml 25 mixed herbs

• 225 ml 225 milk

• 25 g 25 butter

• 200 g 200 cheddar cheese

• 125 ml 125 chopped parsley

• 850 ml 850 beef stock

Method

• Heat olive oil in a saucepan, add chopped onion, carrots, peppers and bay leaves and fry until soft.
• Add the crushed garlic, tomato puree and minced beef and beef stock and let it simmer 20 to 30 minutes.
• Add the mixed herbs, salt and pepper while simmering until the minced beef forms a gravy. Remove from the heat.
• In a pot, add chopped potatoes in cold water and bring them to a boil.
• Simmer until tender and drain water out of the pot.
• Mash the potatoes with milk, butter and cheddar cheese and add seasoning.
• Heat the oven to 200°C.
• Spoon the meat into an oven proofed dish and cover with mash on top.
• Bake in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes until the topping is brown and add chopped parsley as a garnish and serve.

Notes

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