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A slice of beef cottage pie topped with mash potatoes and golden brown crispy cheese and garnished with parsley

Cottage Pie for Two Recipe

Dave
This yummylicious cottage pie for two is comforting, cheesy, made with Worcestershire sauce, and will be even better the next day!
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course dinner, Main Course, main meal
Cuisine british
Servings 2

Equipment

  • 1 vegetable chopper (or knife and chopping board)
  • 1 large frying pan
  • 1 oven safe dish 30 cm x 25 cm or 12 inch x 9.5 inch
  • 1 spatula
  • 1 large serving spoon
  • 1 potato masher
  • 1 jug
  • prep bowls

Ingredients
  

For the mash potatoes

  • 8 potatoes
  • 150 ml milk
  • 50 g butter
  • ½ tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 150 g grated cheese (mature Cheddar)

For the sauce

  • 500 g beef mince (we use lean ground beef)
  • 1 red onion diced
  • 1 white onion diced
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 carrots sliced
  • 2 handfuls frozen peas
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes (400g)
  • 1 stock cube
  • 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil or olive oil
  • ½ tsp salt (or to taste)
  • ½ tsp black pepper (or to taste)

Instructions
 

Prep the Ingredients

  • Peel the potatoes. Chop into quarters then rinse in cold clean water until most of the starch has been rinsed off and the water runs almost clear. Put into a large pan of water covering the potatoes and put onto boil with a few pinches of salt (salt to taste). The potatoes can be left to boil whilst the rest of the ingredients are prepared. This takes around 20-25 minutes.
  • Peel then chop the carrots into slices. Put the carrots and peas into the same pan with boiling water, add a few pinches of salt and let them simmer. They should be taken off the heat and drained when just slightly under cooked (around 7 minutes), as they will cook further in the saucy filling.
  • Peel and dice the onions and mince or or thinly slice the cloves of garlic.

Make the Beef Filling

  • While the potatoes are cooking, add 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan and bring to medium heat. Then add the garlic and stir until slightly golden and fragrant (a couple of seconds should be enough to avoid burning).
  • Add the beef mince and separate with either a spatula or wooden spoon. When mince starts to brown, season well with salt and pepper and optionally the stock cube and stir until mixed in. Add 3 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce and stir in. Taste as you go.
  • When the mince is nearly cooked through make a hole in the middle and pour in the onions, stirring together. Onions can be cooked until soft or slightly crunchy depending on preference. This takes 10 minutes.
  • Check on the peas and carrots. If nearly cooked, drain off water and pour peas and carrots into the frying pan and stir all together.
  • Turn down the heat, add the chopped tomatoes, stir then leave to simmer for another 10 minutes until the sauce is nice an thick not watery..

Make the Mashed Potatoes

  • Whilst the meaty sauce is simmering check the potatoes as they should be cooked and take off the heat and drain the water.
  • Heat the milk in the microwave or stove for 30 seconds. Add the butter to the hot potatoes and mash together until mixed in. At this point the potatoes will still be lumpy so slowly add the milk and mash together. Keep adding milk until the mash becomes creamy.

Assemble the Pie

  • Preheat the oven to 200 ℃ (400 ℉). Prepare an oven safe dish or casserole and with a large serving spoon dish up the beef filling into an even layer.
  • Add the mash potato on top of the beef filling just off the edges, gently smooth the mash potato across and outward to the edges until you have an inch thick layer of mash.
  • Gently run a fork (prongs down) along the length of the dish until the lines cover the length. Then draw the fork width-ways, this will allow a pattern for a crispy top once baked.
  • Add the grated Cheddar cheese evenly covering the entire dish.

Bake and Serve

  • Place the dish in the oven on the middle shelf for 30 minutes or until the cheese is turning golden brown.
  • When cooked, take out of the oven and let sit for a few minutes before dishing up (it will be very hot!!!)

Video

Notes

Dave's Tips:
Sort out enough bowls for the raw ingredients to be prepared into before cooking.
If the sauce has a bit too much liquid, hold some back before adding to the oven dish.
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Keyword cottage pie, cottage pie for 2, cottage pie recipe for 2, cottage pie with cheese
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