Simple Cottage Pie
Can there be any humbler dish than Cottage Pie? Or indeed any nobler dish than Cottage Pie? For me it is its tasty simplicity which raises it to loftier heights than its humble origins suggest.
It derives from the frugal idea of mincing left-over roast meat and combining it with mashed potato. The word 'cottage' is supposedly used to imply the impoverished nature of those concocting and eating it - and the need to 'waste not want not'. 'Shepherd's Pie' is of course just a variation on the theme and usually, as the name suggests, indicates that the meat used is lamb rather than beef.
So it was that I found myself opening the fridge door and looking at the unused, unopened beef mince packs left over from the weekend; at the dish of leftover mash and veg from Sunday's roast gammon; and at a jugful of rich tasty gravy from a meal I made when my parents were staying last week. All I had to do was chop an onion, boil and mash a few more potatoes and that was almost it.
I dug out my newest Rissoli dish - a rectangular, non-stick, heavy based little number - and warmed some olive oil before throwing in the chopped onion to soften. Then in went the meat (c.1kg) which I seasoned with salt. Once that was all browned I added a hefty squeeze of tomato puree, a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, some generous shakes of Worcestershire Sauce, the chopped up leftover veg (runner beans, broccoli and carrots), and the jugful of rich gravy. (If I had not had the gravy I would have had to add stock and wine and let the whole lot reduce down which is, of course, much more time-consuming.)
I took the leftover mash and added creamy milk to soften it and when the extra potatoes I'd peeled and cooked were ready, I mashed them in with it. By now the meat was all ready to go, so I simply spread the mash over the top, forked it up a bit and added a thin layer of grated cheddar. It then went into the hot oven to thoroughly heat it through and brown the topping.
Very quick, very easy, very delicious. Clean plates from all the children and requests for seconds. Job done!
It derives from the frugal idea of mincing left-over roast meat and combining it with mashed potato. The word 'cottage' is supposedly used to imply the impoverished nature of those concocting and eating it - and the need to 'waste not want not'. 'Shepherd's Pie' is of course just a variation on the theme and usually, as the name suggests, indicates that the meat used is lamb rather than beef.
So it was that I found myself opening the fridge door and looking at the unused, unopened beef mince packs left over from the weekend; at the dish of leftover mash and veg from Sunday's roast gammon; and at a jugful of rich tasty gravy from a meal I made when my parents were staying last week. All I had to do was chop an onion, boil and mash a few more potatoes and that was almost it.
I dug out my newest Rissoli dish - a rectangular, non-stick, heavy based little number - and warmed some olive oil before throwing in the chopped onion to soften. Then in went the meat (c.1kg) which I seasoned with salt. Once that was all browned I added a hefty squeeze of tomato puree, a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, some generous shakes of Worcestershire Sauce, the chopped up leftover veg (runner beans, broccoli and carrots), and the jugful of rich gravy. (If I had not had the gravy I would have had to add stock and wine and let the whole lot reduce down which is, of course, much more time-consuming.)
I took the leftover mash and added creamy milk to soften it and when the extra potatoes I'd peeled and cooked were ready, I mashed them in with it. By now the meat was all ready to go, so I simply spread the mash over the top, forked it up a bit and added a thin layer of grated cheddar. It then went into the hot oven to thoroughly heat it through and brown the topping.
Very quick, very easy, very delicious. Clean plates from all the children and requests for seconds. Job done!
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