Cottage Pie........

Today I did a post on Bluebell Woods about Marmite. I got into other English things like Bovril and OXO and ended with a picture of a "Shepherds Pie"..........A Shepherds pie is made of Sheep meat (lamb or mutton) and a cottage pie is made from beef. I make Cottage pie but call it Sherpherds pie just to confuse everyone.
So this was todays meal. After I wrote that I wanted some and it was a great opportunity to take pictures. So.....here we go. Please do read all the way through before you begin.


First of all you do not need measurements. While I use English products it is not at all necessary and I will go step by step with replacements for those who can not get what I use. Believe me its just as good.

You will need hamburgher meat........today I used about 2 pounds. (a lot of instructions say fry it.... don't) I cover the meat with beef stock and cook it in the stock that I made from 2 OXO cubes and one packet of Shepherds pie mix. If you do not have that then cook it in Beef stock that you buy, I use Swansons.
Bring to the boil and then simmer until the meat is cooked and simmer long enough for the meat to absorb the flavour and a lot of the liquid (but not all of it).

Step one


You will see in the above picture that the meat breaks down but there is plenty of liquid to simmer in
These are the products I used.............But remember, you can use Swansons Broth.


Step two
When the meat is cooked and some of the liquid is absorbed then strain the meat through a colander into a sause pan. This is the meat after straining (looks juicy not dry).


Step three

This is a picture of the meat now transfered to a casserol dish.



Step 4
Add your other ingredients....... Baked beans and Veg all is what I used today. This recipe is good to use up left over veggies.







When the ingredients you choose are in the casserol with the meat, then mix it well



Step five

Now, the best way and best results come from regular potatoes cooked and mashed. If you choose to do that then they need to be cooking while the meat is cooking. Otherwise instant potatoes work just as well.



After mixing in your chosen vegetables then top with your yummy mashed potatoes. Lots of milk and butter and dont forget the salt. (you know I love potatoes right)Smoothe them out over the dish and then draw your fork through it to make the pattern.



Place this in the oven at 350 or 400 for as long as it takes to give a nice crusty and browned top to the potatoes. Its worth doing it at 350 and cooking about 45 mins or sometimes longer. I love crunchy potatoes. You can raise the temp for a quicker result because everything has already been cooked. Do place your dish on a tray to catch the drips it may bubble over.



There is the gravy that you strained left over........you probably wont need it today, but if you have leftovers you may need it tomorrow (smile) so set it aside an use it with the warmed up leftovers.






This was our meal this evening




want another look?



Any questions feel free to email me....... Espirit46@chartermi.net

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