Shepherds ( Cottage ) Pie

 Growing up we always called this shepherds pie - I don't ever recall it being made with lamb although my grandmother always used minced up left over roast meat ( lamb or beef ) from the Sunday roast rather than minced meat from the butchers. Nowadays it's shepherds pie ( lamb  ) or cottage pie ( beef ) but as I say it will always be shepherds pie to me.

Probably favoured by older generations as it's quite an old fashioned meal, this is still very well received each time I make it. It's a winter type dish as it's pretty heavy and warming - delicious...

Serves 4 ( maybe 6 )

Ingredients

500g Lean Minced Beef Steak

1 1/2 k Good Red Potatoes

2 Large Onions roughly chopped

4 Cloves Garlic finely chopped

3 Large Carrots chopped into large rounds

3 Sticks Celery medium chopped

1 Red Chilli finely chopped

Cup Frozen Peas

Good Shake Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 Cup Mushroom Ketchup

2 Beef stock pots

2 Bayleaves

1 Dessertspoon dried mixed herbs

1 Tablespoon Tomato paste

Thickening cornflour or granules, whatever you use

Olive oil

Butter and milk for mash

Salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large flameproof pot ( with lid if possible ) and gently fry onion and garlic until slightly golden but not brown ... about 10 minutes...add chilli and beef and keep stirring until beef is no longer pink.

This takes about 10 minutes, once the beef is no longer pink everything else apart from the peas can just go in, no need to be precious here as its all going to cook for another 2 hours anyway, cover with water, bring up to the boil, take the temperature right down to a slow bubble and pop the lid on. Give it a nice stir every half an hour and add any water if it gets too dry, you want it to have plenty of gravy to serve with the finished dish so don't skimp on the stock here.

After a couple of hours bubbling gently away, add the peas and thicken , adjust seasoning to taste and then leave to cool a little.

Once it is a little cooler, using a slotted spoon, spoon all the meat and a little of the gravy into a nice big pie dish saving the gravy for heating up to serve with the pie.

Top with mashed potato and bake in a hot oven for about half an hour or until the top is nice and golden anywhere between half and hour and 45 minutes should do it depending on your oven.

Serve with veg of choice, I always like green veg in season and a good splosh of gravy.