Cottage Pie

Cottage Pie: Step by Step

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1. Heat the oil in a wide pan and brown the beef in two batches over high heat, 6 minutes each, until genuinely dark. Lift out.

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2. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook 10 minutes until softened, scraping up the fond.

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3. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the tomato purée for 2 minutes, then the flour for 2 minutes.

   Mark done Start 1 min timer

4. Pour in the wine, boil hard for 3 minutes, then add the stock, Worcestershire, thyme, bay and salt.

   Mark done Start 3 min timer

5. Return the beef and simmer, uncovered, for 35 to 40 minutes until thick and glossy. Stir in the peas, discard the bay, and cool.

   Mark done Start 35 min timer

6. Boil the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes until completely tender, then drain and steam dry for 3 minutes.

   Mark done Start 20 min timer

7. Mash or rice them, then beat in the butter, warm milk, half the cheese, the egg yolk, nutmeg, salt and white pepper.

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8. Spread the cooled filling in a 2.5 litre dish and top with the mash, starting at the edges to seal it in.

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9. Fork ridges across the surface, scatter with the remaining cheese, and bake at 200°C / 390°F for 30 to 35 minutes until browned and bubbling. Rest 10 minutes.

   Mark done Start 30 min timer

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Things to Watch For

1. Ridges are not decoration — they are surface area, and surface area is crisp bits.
2. Cool the filling first. Hot gravy and soft mash will merge into one grey layer.
3. Rice the potatoes rather than mashing if you want a truly smooth topping; never use a food processor, which turns them to glue.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

The Short Version

Browning the mince in batches until it is genuinely dark builds the fond that the gravy is later deglazed from — crowding the pan steams the meat grey and the finished pie tastes flat. Cooling the filling before the mash goes on stops the potato sinking into the gravy.

On the Table Alongside

Buttered greens or peas · Brown sauce or ketchup, unashamedly · A robust red or a pint of ale

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Fried Bread, Pigs in Blankets, Roast Beetroot.

Leftovers

Refrigerate up to 3 days and freeze 3 months. Reheat covered at 180°C / 350°F for 35 minutes, uncovering at the end.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: an ingredient listed without an amount is not counted, so the figures run low. The calories include 4 g of alcohol a serving, which is not part of the protein, carbohydrate or fat. How the figures are worked out.

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