Community Pick
Traditional English Cottage Pie With Cheese and Leek Topping
photo by French Tart
- Ready In:
- 1hr
- Ingredients:
- 19
- Serves:
-
4-6
ingredients
-
Cottage Pie Filling
- 600 g lean ground beef or 600 g cooked beef, shredded
- 2 onions, peeled and diced
- 1 large carrots, peeled and finely diced or 1 large cooked carrot, diced
- 1 ounce butter or 1 ounce dripping
- cooked peas (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried herbs or 1 -2 tablespoon fresh mixed herbs, chopped
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 250 ml beef stock (OR 250 ml red wine mixed with 2 teaspoons sugar) (optional)
- salt
- pepper
-
Cottage Pie Topping
- 1 kg potato, peeled and cut into small even sized pieces
- 2 large leeks, cleaned and finely shredded or 2 large cooked leeks, sliced into rings
- 2 ounces butter
- 2 -4 tablespoons milk
- 4 ounces mature farmhouse cheddar cheese, grated
- salt
- pepper
directions
-
To make the pie filling:
- Fry the onions and carrots if using, in the butter or beef dripping until they are soft.
- Add the minced/chopped beef and cook for about 10 to 20 minutes or until the onion and carrot have browned and the minced beef has taken on some colour and is firm. (It also depends if you are using cooked or raw minced beef.).
- Season well with salt and pepper, then add the mixed herbs. Stir in the flour, and mix well.
- Mix the tomato puree and Worcestershire sauce with the stock and add it to the meat mixture, bringing it all to simmering point. Simmer until the stock has reduced by aboout a third, add the peas if using and take off the heat. Set aside whilst you make the topping.
-
To make the topping:
- Boil the potatoes in slightly salted water then mash them well, adding half of the butter and all of the milk gradually. Season to taste.
- If using fresh leeks, fry the leeks gently in the remaining butter, until soft and slightly coloured.
- Stir the cooked leeks into the mashed potato mixture and give it all a good mix.
-
Assemble:
- Put the meat mixture into a large and deep well greased baking dish and spread the potato mixture on top; then sprinkle with the grated cheese. You can also use 4 - 6 smaller pie dishes if you wish.
- Put into a pre-heated oven, 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 for about 25 to 30 minutes until the topping is crusty, golden and bubbling.
- Serve with an assortment of fresh seasonal vegetables and a jug of gravy.
Reviews
-
Keeping with the leftovers theme, I made this partially with leftover pot roast, but I didn't have enough and added some ground beef too. I topped it with leftover mashed potatoes and used green beans instead of peas since that's what I had. I also used leftover gravy from the pot roast for the "juice" in the recipe instead of the beef broth. This makes a lot. I divided it up into two 9X9 inch pans, baked one and froze the other one. The potato, leek, and cheese topping was really delicious and totally made this dish!
-
This is the best cottage pie recipe I have tried and have attempted a few without much success. I used extra lean minced Aberdeen Angus beef, which required a bit more liquid as less fat came off the meat. Added more Worcester sauce, went with the red wine, a beef Oxo cube and skipped the salt. Cornflour instead of flour. The herbs I used were Basil, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme. Didn't have peas but threw a few frozen peppers in. The leeks in the mash really added taste and texture and for personal taste added more butter to make it extra creamy. The mature cheddar really tops the dish off nicely. It went down really well with everyone and next time will make smaller portions for freezing for a quick supper during the week. Top marks!
see 25 more reviews
Tweaks
-
Very tasty. Didn't peel the potatoes, I never do. Had to look up how to deal with leeks. For the herbs I used parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Cooked the potatoes, leeks, and onion/carrot/meat at the same time. Instead of stock I used a splash of sherry and water. Used colby jack, that's what I had. Took me longer than an hour. Traditional Mixed Herbs are equal parts: Basil, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme
-
Keeping with the leftovers theme, I made this partially with leftover pot roast, but I didn't have enough and added some ground beef too. I topped it with leftover mashed potatoes and used green beans instead of peas since that's what I had. I also used leftover gravy from the pot roast for the "juice" in the recipe instead of the beef broth. This makes a lot. I divided it up into two 9X9 inch pans, baked one and froze the other one. The potato, leek, and cheese topping was really delicious and totally made this dish!
-
I've never had a English Cottage Pie before but wanted to make this after reading the ingredients and reviews. This is a wonderful soulful recipe that I'll be making often. I substituted bacon dripping for the first butter addition and also added some minced garlic to the filling. Peas were not used and also used beef stock instead of red wine. In the refrigerator are some porters and ales which will be served along with salad greens, mushroom demi-glace, and Southern style biscuits to go with this fabulous dish. Thank you so much French Tart for posting this delicious recipe.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p><strong><span>The sunflowers in the field behind my house in SW France:</span></strong></p>
<p><img title=Sunflowers src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/DSCN8221.jpg alt=Sunflowers width=640 height=480 /><br /><strong><span><br /><br />I am British (English-Scottish), but I was born in South Africa and have lived all over the world, including Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, USA & Singapore. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled extensively over the years.........I still have wanderlust! <br /><br />I used to be an English Literature & Art History teacher & lecturer; before that, I trained and worked as a Graphic Designer for many years. I now live in France with my husband & my daughter who has just started university in September 2006. We also have one very chatty Burmese cat Willow, who allows us to live with her here! (I used to have three cats, I recently lost Monty, a beautiful seal point Siamese and before that, Rama, who was a debonair blue point Siamese cat - I would love to have another Siamese cat or cats in the future!)</span></strong></p>
<p><em><strong><span>This is my Burmese Cat, Willow, sunning herself on the log pile in the kitchen garden:</span></strong></em></p>
<p><strong><img title=My src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ABaconButtyandSundryFoodPhotos34.jpg alt=My width=640 height=480 /></strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Here is my lovely Monty, a seal point Siamese, and Willow, sitting in the kitchen garden last year, and a few months before Monty died; he was 18yrs old:</span></strong></p>
<p><img title=Monty src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/AbsolutelySinfulStickyToffeePudding.jpg alt=Monty width=640 height=480 />My</p>
<p><strong><span>This is my wonderful old boy, Rama, a blue-point Siamese, who died when he was 20yrs old - excuse the old and much sellotaped photo:</span></strong></p>
<p><img title=Rama src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Rama1stOctober2004164.jpg alt=Rama width=517 height=639 /></p>
<p><strong><span>My favourite pastimes are: reading, writing, painting & drawing, photography, gardening, anything creative, walking, travelling, dining out and of course COOKING! I love all types of cuisine, but especially Traditional British - and NO it is NOT all bad!! I particularly love food associated with the changing seasons plus traditional feasts & festivals, as well as Slow Cooking. I also enjoy French & North African cuisine, come to think of it, there isn't much I don't like! <br /><br />My husband & I run a Chambres D'Hotes, (Bed and Breakfast) called Auberge de la Fontaine here in beautiful South West France; we specialise in Gourmet Food & Wine Breaks, French Antiques & Restoration courses, French Language courses and French Cookery classes. Our home is completely furnished with Antique French furniture that we have rescued & restored ourselves. Our charming village has one of the oldest Churches in the region & it is famous for its connection with the St.Jacques de Compostella Pilgrimage route, as well as being within the Cognac & Bordeaux wine growing area. <br /><br />We have a wonderful garden where we grow ALL of our own herbs and most of our fruit and vegetables. I specialise in rare, unusual and old-fashioned herbs, which I grow in our walled garden. As well as growing herbs, I also grow many different varieties of lavender, old-fashioned shrub roses and heirloom fruit and vegetables. <br /><br />We have lived overseas for many, many years now - but we both still love going home to Northern England, near Scarborough & York, to visit our family & friends. We also love indulging in dining out when we are there, in a wide variety of EXCELLENT Gastro-Pubs that we have in North Yorkshire; and popping in to have a Pint of REAL ENGLISH ALE in our local pub is a always a must!! <br /></span></strong></p>
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