Over a high heat, add the minced beef into your biggest frying pan. Fry the minced beef until browned all over, break it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
Pour in the red wine, and reduce by half. Take it off the heat.
In a separate large pan, add the diced onion, carrot and celery and cook over a medium heat until soft.
Add the garlic, rosemary, and bay leaves and cook for a further minute.
Add the tomato pureé and plain flour, stir in well. Cook for one minute.
Pour in the beef stock and the worcestershire sauce.
Add the minced beef into the pot with the sauce.
Cover with a lid or tin foil and cook over a low heat for 45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200℃.
Meanwhile, make the mash. In a large saucepan of cold water add the peeled and chopped potatoes, season with salt. Bring it to the boil and simmer until tender.
Drain well and allow to steam dry for a few minutes. Mash well with 50g of the butter, 200g of cheese, nutmeg and milk.
The sauce should be thick by now, if it has too much liquid, take the lid off and cook over a medium-high heat to reduce some of the liquid. It should be of a thick gravy like consistency.
Add the frozen peas and stir in. Taste for seasoning.
Spoon the meat into a large ovenproof dish. Spoon the mash over to cover and then sprinkle over the remaining butter and cheese.
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the topping is golden. Leave to stand for a few minutes before dishing it up.
4 comments on “Cottage Pie”
Thank you Jon,
The recipe worked very well. For a busy family, we thoroughly enjoyed it.
The ingredients lists states 3 bay leaves, but the instructions never mention them. Do they go in at stage 7?
Hi, sorry about that. This is an early recipe that had to be transferred to my website. You can add the bay leaves along with the garlic and rosemary. Enjoy.
This was absolutely delicious !! So easy to make too!