Cottage Pie
Yesterday, I made cottage pie. It’s a humble meal, one that can be adapted to whatever you have left in the root cellar and freezer. It could easily be made vegetarian or with any kind of ground meat you have on hand. Choose your spices according to the meat and vegetables. I don’t use a recipe, but if you want one this one is good. I always double the vegetables because it’s a good way to eat more of those in a meal!
Since we have an abundance of pork, that was the source of meat I decided to use. I used sage breakfast sausage, because the spices already mixed in sounded wonderful! There were onions, garlic and potatoes in the root cellar and I also had garden peas and sweet corn in the freezer.
To the mashed potatoes I added homemade butter and fresh cream from the local farm, along with a healthy dose of Kerrygold Dubliner Irish Cheddar Cheese, and of course you can’t forget the freshly ground salt and pepper.
Instead of adding flour as many recipes call for to thicken the juices, I added a cooked and mashed potato to the vegetables and meat.
After putting the meat and vegetables in a cast iron skillet, mashed potatoes are slathered on top. Then it’s baked in the oven for about 30 minutes and turns out quite lovely.
What I love about recipes like these is that they’re so easy and they can be adapted to whatever you have on hand or whatever your family likes. You could easily make a Thanksgiving themed one with ground turkey, green beans, sage and mashed sweet potatoes on top. Or how about a spicy one with ground beef, taco seasoning, tomatoes, onions, peppers, corn and mashed potatoes with monterey jack cheese on top. Of course vegetarian is always an option, any mix of vegetables would work with your favorite spices mixed in. The possibilities are endless!
If you were making Cottage Pie – what mix of ingredients would be your favorite?
Filed under Around the House, Cooking | Comments (16)
Oh hey, you just reminded me: I have part of a jar of sauerkraut in the refrigerator. My favorite way to use that is to mix it with browned ground beef and onions, add some caraway seeds, top with mashed potatoes and, voilaYUM, German Shepherd’s Pie.
The standard shepherd’s pie recipe in our Cook’s Illustrated book is really good too–it has brandy and Worcester in the meat and vegetable mixture, which I think are the keys.
Oh! And I also really like a fish pie I make whenever I have leftover pike or trout (though I wouldn’t try it with store fish–I’m picky about only eating the fish from our lake). It’s a creamy base of white fish and mushrooms topped with mashed potatoes. I don’t even like fish much, and I like this. The original recipe that I heavily modified came from Darina Allen. Have you read her books about traditional Irish cooking? You’d probably like them.
Huh. I seem to have a lot to say on this subject . . .
to kristin @ going country's comment
Ground chicken. With one family member refusing to eat red meat and pork, everything is now chicken.
But the veggies I would use are anything I have in the house – parsnips, onions, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, the list goes on and on.
to Adelina's comment
Susy, my grown kids all remember Dad’s refrigerator soup. Unfortunately the family wouldn’t eat left overs in any form. Dad’s soup was always eaten by Dad. Even to this day I love soup in any form and still make refrigerator soup. I’ve discovered it’s all about matching the seasonings with what’s in the pot that makes for a good soup. As you well know, I’m still learning about that. Onions and garlic do wonders for soup.
I’ve always wanted to try a Shepard’s pie which is very similar to your cottage pie but I haven’t made one yet. Here in the Midwest country folks used to make what they called a pot pie. It was a stew like mixture with vegetables and meat in a pie crust. It tasted much better than the store bought with the same name. So many great ways to use left overs, don’t you think?
Have a great cottage pie day.
to Nebraska Dave's comment
Now I want Cottage Pie for breakfast! Your photos are wonderful – I can smell the aroma from here.
This is going on our menu for next week.
to DebbieB's comment
For some reason I always thought cottage pie had a crust, so I’ve never made one because we eat mostly gluten-free. I might have to try it now. I’d like broccoli and asparagus, maybe corn and green beans with buttery potatoes. Yum!
to Songbirdtiff's comment
Oh that looks so delicious! I make something similar with lentils instead of meat, but mine doesn’t look as beautiful.
I’m curious – I see that you have frozen your veggies in glass jars. I’ve tried this, but always end up with freezer burned veggies. What could you be doing differently?
to Joan's comment
I don’t usually have trouble with freezer burn. I do make sure my vegetables have a lot of moisture, I think the ice helps. You could also fill in around the veggies with water, it does a fantastic job and keeping the air out.
to Susy's comment
I’ve wondered about freezing in Mason jars. Do they break easily if they clink against another one? Does the food expand and break them if they’re in the freezer too long? Maybe a blog post about this would be a good idea, or have I missed that one? I’ve made shepherds pie with ground venison. Yum!
to Myra S.'s comment
Hi Myrna, I freeze in glass jars, and haven’t had a problem with breaking unless I fill it too full. Cream soups seem more susceptible to this, so I left a good two inches of head room. Stock I usually leave an inch and the jars are fine. Just don’t pack contents to the brim and you should be fine. As long as you are dealing with tempered glass, it can take a little beating.
to whit's comment
I actually did a post on this a few years back. The key is using wide mouth jars and leaving plenty of headspace.
/2010/03/06/using-canning-jars-in-the-freezer/
to Susy's comment
I once made one with ground turkey, green beans and mashed Turk’s Turban squash on top. It was delicious!
to Marcia's comment
This is a lovely idea! Now I want to make one too… I’m going to use a few pieces of cut up corned beef and vegetables with left over colcannon (Irish mashed potatoes with cabbage) on top. It should be terrific.
Thanks for the inspiration!
to Andrea Goldsmith's comment
Oh my goodness that looks delicious. I have a tendency to let things like greens and spinach go to waste before I can use them and I think sauteing them in the meat and making a “pie” out of them is a great option. Plus, Dubliner cheese and mashed potatoes? Who can resist that!!!
to Kara's comment
Ground turkey with rosemary! I now have to try all the other versions that were mentioned, especially the German Cottage Pie!
to Deairdre Miller's comment
I just made one a couple days ago. I like topping the meat/veggies with sweet potatoes or yams. This is a great way to take all the leftover veggies in the fridge and make a new meal. The name I know for this comfort food is, Shepherds Pie. No matter what the name, it is easy and delicious.
to Colleen's comment
Oh Yum, your pie looks amazing! I kind of like that one version of adding sauerkraut too…gives it a little German flair! I like your name of Cottage Pie instead of Shepards pie better too! So it is now called Cottage Pie! :)
to Chris's comment