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Cottage Pie

Lean-mince, veg-loaded cottage pie using a sachet mix (or a quick homemade one). Cook it tonight in one large tray, or portion into individual foil trays and freeze uncooked for later.

Serves 4 · Cook 90 min

Photo of Cottage Pie

Ingredients

  • 500g 5% lean beef mince
  • 1 sachet cottage/shepherd's pie mix (Colman's or Schwartz), made up per packet (or the homemade mix below)
  • 1 onion, grated or finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, diced small (or 1 tin carrots, drained and chopped)
  • 100g frozen peas
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée (optional)
  • Splash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
  • Pepper to taste (the sachet is salty enough)
  • Splash of oil, for frying
  • 900g potatoes (Maris Piper or similar), peeled and chunked
  • 25g butter
  • Splash of semi-skimmed milk
  • Salt and pepper
  • Optional: small handful of grated cheese for the top
  • No sachet? Homemade mix: 1 tbsp plain flour, ½ beef stock cube in 300ml water, 1 tsp dried thyme, 1 bay leaf, ½ tsp garlic powder, a splash of Worcestershire (or soy/brown sauce) and plenty of pepper

Method

  1. Put the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water, bring to the boil and simmer 15–20 min until a knife goes through easily.
  2. Meanwhile, grate the onion (coarse side of a box grater) and dice the carrots small — or drain and chop the tinned carrots. Heat a splash of oil in a large pan over medium heat (hob 5–6) and cook the onion and carrot 4–5 min until softened and the raw onion bite has gone.
  3. Turn up the heat (hob 7–8), add the mince and brown it, breaking it up with a spoon — 6–8 min until no pink remains. Tip off any liquid.
  4. Stir in the tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce, if using, then add the sachet mix made up with the water the packet asks for. Bring to a simmer and cook 10–15 min (hob 4–5), stirring now and then, until thickened. Stir the peas through for the last 2 min. Season with pepper.
  5. No sachet? Instead of the sachet, stir the flour into the browned mince for a minute, then add the stock, thyme, bay leaf, garlic powder, Worcestershire and pepper. Simmer 10–15 min (hob 4–5) until thick — lid off for a few more minutes if it's loose — stirring the peas through for the last 2 min. Fish out the bay leaf, then taste: stock cubes are low-salt, so add a pinch of salt if needed.
  6. Drain the potatoes and let them steam dry in the colander for a minute. Mash with the butter, milk, salt and pepper until smooth.
  7. Let the filling cool 10–15 min so the mash sits on top rather than sinking in.
  8. Assemble in one large foil tray, or four individual foil trays to freeze: filling on the bottom, mash spooned over, roughed up with a fork. Cheese on top if using.
  9. To cook now: bake at 200°C fan for 25–30 min until the top is golden and the filling bubbles at the edges. Serve with green veg (broccoli, green beans or a pile of peas).
  10. To batch and freeze: use a quarter of the mix per individual tray (about 220g filling + 225g mash), but do not bake. Cool completely on the side (about an hour), cover tightly with foil, label with the date and freeze. Keeps 3 months.
  11. To cook a frozen portion: defrost overnight in the fridge, then bake at 200°C fan, foil off, for 30–35 min until golden, bubbling at the edges and piping hot in the centre. Don't cook from frozen (the top over-browns before the middle is hot), and foil trays are oven only.