Classic Cottage Pie. Before, I took a full load of classes every quarter, and I worked a few hours a week waiting tables at a diner. I only partied on Thursday nights at an Irish pub in our place, which is still there. Back then, a well-known band, my friends and I, debuted systematically with the help of Guinness and Irish whiskey, dancing to and singing traditional Irish songs. The pub even had a table reserved for us, and, in retrospect, I probably could have funded my child’s college education with the number of shots I bought for myself, lifelong friends, and the band.
Sometimes I would show up early when the band was setting up, and I would get some dinner. The pub that I used to hang out at is not a traditional Irish pub, but it tried in a cute way, and maybe it still does. It was here that I had my first Classic Cottage Pie (Shepherd’s Pie). It’s basically a ground beef stew topped with mashed potatoes and crisped under the broiler to give it a crust.
The two times I’ve been to Ireland, I was sure to get Classic Cottage when I could. Classic Cottage Pie is a staple there, and if you make it because of this post, I think you’ll understand why. Like many Irish and English dishes, it’s comfort food meant to warm you on a brusque, rainy night or to line your body for an evening of heavy drinking.
Seasoned ground beef and veggies cooked in some way are the base of many dishes in a lot of different cultures, as I will explore as time goes on. The best part about all of them is that they’re usually cheap to make, they’re filling, they’re creative, and they’re comforting. Without further ado, let’s take a stroll down Broadway, meaning not long to stray.
Like most of my recipes (except family ones or the few I’ve thought up), I find them in a book or online, and then I mess with them a bit. I try to give credit to the cooks that have inspired me. This dish is no different.
I love this partly because it is a Traditional Classic Cottage Pie. It HAS to be good, doesn’t it? Still, I do make some changes in my version.
Easy Classic Cottage Pie On A Rainy Night
Ingredients
TO MAKE THE CLASSIC COTTAGE PIE:
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion - chopped
3 medium carrots - peeled, halved and quartered lengthwise, and sliced ½-inch thick (they should look like quarter moons, dude)
2 stalks celery - sliced ½-inch thick
4 cloves garlic - pressed or minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 pounds ground beef (minced beef) - or lamb (I use only beef)
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
½ cup beef stock (beef broth or beef bouillon)
1 cup peas - frozen or fresh
TO MAKE THE MASHED POTATOES:
4 pounds potatoes - peeled and cubed into 1-inch chunks- 3 tablespoons margarine or butter
- 1 pinch salt - to taste
- 1 pinch ground black pepper - to taste
¼ cup milk - what you choose depends on your level of indulgence
1 cup cheddar cheese
Instructions
TO MAKE THE CLASSIC COTTAGE PIE:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- In a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil and butter over medium-high heat and add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook this for 10 to 12 minutes until they start to brown.
- Add in the tomato paste and mix it all together well.
- Add the ground beef (or lamb), crumble it as you add it, and cook it for another 10 to 12 minutes until it’s not pink anymore.
- Next, add the Worcestershire sauce and the broth. Get this to a simmer and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Mix in the peas at this point.
TO MAKE THE MASHED POTATOES:
- Get a pot of salted water boiling well, add the potatoes, and get them mashable, about 15 to 20 minutes (to check, take a chunk of potato out of the water, and a fork should split it apart easily, leaving crumbs and residue on the fork).
- Drain the potatoes and add the rest of the ingredients. Use a masher or electric mixer to get them fluffed. Important! You want these taters to be firm rather than soft because you will want to shape them into peaks on top of the Cottage Pie.
ASSEMBLY:
- Get a 9x 13-inch baking dish (or something equivalent or whatever you have in terms of baking dishes… that’s what the Irish would do), spoon in the beef mixture, and make it an even layer.
- Now spoon on the mashed potatoes, and do it like you’re frosting a cake, or you will mix up the beef melange with it too much. In other words, spoon dabs of it all over and then gently spread it out until you’ve used all of the mashed pots.
- This is the fun part. Take a fork and run it all over the potatoes to give them texture. Make peaks and stuff like that so it will crisp up.
- Stick this in the oven for 20 minutes. In the last 3 minutes, turn on the broiler and get the top even crispier. Be careful not to burn it, so glue yourself to the oven window and watch it until you get that tingly sensation in your nether regions. This is what I took out this evening:
- To serve this, take a big ol’ serving spoon and dig to the bottom and try to lift it out like a pie. It’s supposed to be a bit of a pile, so don’t get OCD about it, Cake Boss.
- You can serve this with green beans or a veggie, of course, but this is pretty filling on its own. Believe it or not, if you notice the recipe, it’s not that bad for you, either… just don’t eat half of it in one sitting.
