Easy Cottage Pie with Cheese
Everything is made better with cheese right? If you agree with me, then this Easy Cottage Pie with Cheese Mash Topping should find its way into your heart, and your meal rotation, without much resistance. Dig in and enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 500 g beef mince
- salt and pepper
- 2 carrots finely chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon mixed herbs
- 2 tablespoon tomato purée
- 1 teaspoon marmite
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoon plain flour
- 1 beef stock cube
- 500 ml water
- 2 bay leaves
- 120 g frozen peas
Garlic, Herb and Cheese Topping - See Notes for a quick recipe hack
- 1 kg red potatoes unpeeled weight - See Notes
- 100 g butter I used garlic and herb butter but salted butter works fine too
- 200 ml milk
- 150 g cheese I used red leiscester
- 50 g parmesan grated
Instructions
Cottage Pie Base
- Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan and cook 500 g beef mince with 1 tablespoon mixed herbs, salt and pepper until browned - remove from pan and set aside
- Drizzle in a little more oil then soften 2 carrots and 1 onion (finely chopped) for 10 minutes
- Add 2 tablespoon tomato purée, fry for 2 minutes then 1 teaspoon marmite and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Stir through 2 tablespoon plain flour as this will help thicken the gravy
- Add the browned mince back into the pan with 2 bay leaves
- Dissolve 1 beef stock cube in 500 ml water and pour into the mince
- Simmer on medium heat for approx 30 minutes until gravy has thickened, stirring occasionally
- Remove bay leaves and mix through 120 g frozen peas (they will cook when you bake the Cottage Pie in the oven)
Garlic, Herb and Cheese Mash
- Peel 1 kg red potatoes, chop into halves or quarters and add them to a pot of cold salted water
- Bring to the boil and cook for 10-15 minutes until you can pass a knife through the potatoes easily
- Allow to steam dry then mash until smooth
- Then mix through , 200 ml milk and 150 g cheese
Assembly and Baking Cottage Pie
- Add cottage pie base mix to a pie dish, then spread cheesy mashed potato on top
- Sprinkle topping of 50 g parmesan then bake in oven at 200C fan / 425F or Gas Mark 7 for 30-40 minutes
Notes
Mashed Potato Hack: use pre-made mash like this one from Albert Bartlett. I wouldn't ordinarily encourage the use of pre-made items, but a lot of pre-made mash brands only use minimal ingredients (i.e. ones you recognise) so they're a nice option to speed the process along a bit. Plus their mash is always so smooth! Ready to simply add the cheese... or they also have a Colcannon mash version too, if you want to add some extra veg into the mix.
Nutrition
Calories: 629kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 28gFat: 41gSaturated Fat: 18gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 112mgSodium: 551mgPotassium: 1300mgFiber: 5gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 4300IUVitamin C: 27mgCalcium: 312mgIron: 4mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!