I loveeee shepherd’s pie. It’s a crust-less pie that has a layer of slow-cooked minced topped with creamy mash potatoes. It’s cooked with lamb mince but if you prefer beef mince then it’s cottage pie. It’s so homely and comforting with all the familiar flavours of the red wine, tomatoes and rosemary; of course you can always omit the wine if you do not drink. This recipe is definitely one of my favourite winter warmers.

There are 2 main components: the mince and the mash potatoes.

1. The mince: it’s ground lamb slow cooked in beef stock, tomato paste and red wine. You can substitute the wine with more stock if you do not drink. Substitute the lamb for beef and you will have cottage pie!
2. Potatoes: use a potato ricer for a smooth mash. Or if you don’t have one, you can mash up the potatoes with a fork and it will probably come out a lil lumpy like mine 🙂

Ingredients

800g beef mince (for Cottage pie) or lamb mince (for Shepherd’s pie)
2 carrots, peeled and finely cubed
1 large onion, finely cubed
2 celery stalks, finely cubed
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
5 button mushrooms, finely cubed
1/4 cup plain flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup red wine
2 cups beef or mushroom stock
2 sprigs rosemary

5-6 white potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk
parmesan

Method

1. Prepare the mash. Cook the potatoes in a pot of boiling water until fork tender. Drain then mash. Add in the butter, milk and parmesan. Mix well until combined.
2. In a pan over medium heat with a bit of olive oil, brown your ground beef mince.
3. Add the chopped up onion, carrot, celery, garlic and mushroom into the pan and saute for around 10 minutes.
4. Add in the flour and stir so that everything is coated in the flour evenly. Cook the flour for 2 minutes.
5. Add in the tomato paste, worcestershire sauce and red wine. Scrap what’s stuck on the bottom of the pan and let the wine reduce.
6. Add in the stock and rosemary and simmer until the sauce is nice and thick (mine took around 20 minutes), stir occasionally . Then remove the rosemary sprig and season to taste. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
7. Transfer the mince over to a baking dish then top with the potato mash. Create a pattern on top of the mash if you want then bake for 20-30 minutes or until the top of the mash is golden and crispy.