Cottage Pie

Winter means hearty, filling, comfort food. And Cottage Pie is exactly that. It's something I grew up on and never had it often enough. So now I make so much that it usually lasts a few days and I still am not sick of it. Like when I make spaghetti, enough to last at least 3 days. My record eating spag bog was 6 days in a row....almost made it to a week. But it wasn't the same spag bog (I would probably have keeled over with food poisoning if I kept food for that long). So does it count if it was 2 different versions? Eating my one for 4 days and eating my dads one he made for the following 2 days? I digress......


Sorry went off to a bit of a tangent there....now Cottage Pie....yes yes, I love it. When I was little however I would eat it with rice (yes even though it's a meal on it's own and yes it has mash potato on top), nowadays I can do without the rice although secretly I think it needs it hehehe


Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 brown onion
2 garlic cloves
1kg minced beef
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup chicken or beef stock
1 cup of frozen vegetables of your choice
salt and pepper


1kg potatos
100g butter
1/2 cup milk (more or less depending on how you like it)
salt and pepper


Method
1. Heat oil in pan then add carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent and other vegies are soft.
2. Add meat and cook for another 10mins making sure you stir and break the mince apart so it's not all in big chunks
3. Add flour and tomato paste and stir well, cooking the flour.
4. Add bay leaf, worcestershire sauce and stock. Cook for 10mins.
5. While the meat is cooking, peel, cut and boil up the potatoes.
6. Add the frozen vegies, salt and pepper and cook for another 10mins giving you time to finish off your mash potato.
7. Pour meat into a big roasting dish, layer the mash potato on top. Decorate the mash by dragging a fork over the top.

Fresh vegies

Cut extra small so hopefully the little lad won't pick it all out

Fresh vegies, meat and liquids added

Frozen vegies added
This time I chose corn, peas and red capsicum

Bottom layer

Top layer

Fresh out of the oven

Cottage Pie