dinner:

cottage pie with sweet potato topping

Cottage Pie or Shepherd’s Pie? I feel that everyone has a preference. If I had to choose, it would probably be a Shepherd’s Pie, but only because I love lamb.

A cottage pie is the cousin of a Shepherd’s Pie, and instead of using lamb, it uses beef, which makes it a meal that would please more people and is easily made as beef mince is always readily available.

 
 
 
 

Aside from making the mash, this cottage pie with sweet potato is a great one-pan meal that goes from stove top to oven and can be partly made ahead of time, making it a perfect mid-week meal.

It is packed full of veggies, making it a good option for fussy eaters. If your preference is for a potato topping, rather than sweet potato, then simply subbing out the sweet potato for potato, makes it into a more traditional cottage pie.

Enjoy xx.

 
 
 

 

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6

  • 1 onion, peeled and diced

  • 2 sticks celery, diced

  • 1 large carrot, diced

  • 1 medium zucchini, diced

  • 500g beef mince

  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed

  • 2 tbs plain flour

  • ½ cup red wine

  • ½ cup tomato paste

  • 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

  • 1 tbs balsamic vinegar

  • 1 ¼ cups beef stock

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 2 sprigs thyme

  • Salt and pepper

  • 2 large sweet potato, peeled and sliced

  • 1 tbs butter

  • ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

  • ¼ cup milk

  • Salt and pepper

 

Method:

  1. Preheat a large oven-proof frypan over medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil along with the onion, celery, carrot and zucchini and cook for 4-5 minutes until the vegetables are softened.

  2. Add the garlic and beef mince and cook to brown, breaking up the mince as you go.

  3. Add the flour and mix to coat the beef and vegetables, stirring for 1-2 minutes. Add the red wine, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar and stock and mix to combine. Add the herbs and season with salt and pepper.

  4. Increase the heat to bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for ~20-25 minutes until the sauce thickens.

  5. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

  6. While the filling is cooking, bring a pot of water to the boil. Add the sweet potato and cook until tender. Drain and mash the sweet potato.

  7. Add the butter, parmesan cheese, milk and salt and pepper and mash to combine.

  8. Once the filling is thickened, allow to cool slightly then spread the sweet potato mash over the top.

  9. Place into oven and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the mash starts to brown.