Cottage pie

Cottage pie is a complete meal in a single dish, and is great winter comfort food. Not really a pie at all, of course, it is a layering of mince, vegatables and mashed potato, baked in the oven to give a crispy top.

Method

1. Dice the onion, and slice the mushrooms.

2. Fry the mince in a little oil, in a heavy saucepan. When it is browned, add the onion, mushrooms, herbs and seasoning and fry until the onions are soft.

3. Add the stock and bring to the boil. If you don't have fresh stock, use either a stock cube, or a tablespoon of oyster sauce, dissolved in 500ml water. Leave to simmer, covered.

4. Peel and slice the carrots. Peel and chop the potatoes. Boil the carrots and potatoes (in separate pans) until they are cooked. They wil both take about 25 minutes.

5. Assemble the pie in a shallow casserole dish. Strain the meat, onions and mushrooms (retain the liquid as gravy) and place in the bottom of the dish. Mash the carrots and layer them over the meat. Mash the potatoes and layer them over the carrots.

6. Fluff up the top of the potato layer with a fork. Dot with butter and bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes until crispy.

7. Spoon out onto serving plates and pour over the heated gravy reserved from cooking the meat.

The quantities here are not particularly critical, so obviously you can vary the amount of meat, vegetable and potato depending on how many people you are serving.

As a variant, try using swede or turnip instead of carrot (or mixed with it).

This recipe is for 4 servings.