Life, with Clotted Cream
An ordinary life with a dusting of luxury.
Cheesy Cottage Pie
Ever since we’ve moved into our new home, I’ve really wanted to make some more freezer-ready meals for those nights that there is simply not enough time to cook something from scratch.
I recently became the very proud owner of a new Instant Pot. I’ve always wanted one as I knew how versatile they were, but I was not ready for this type of versatility! Now before we moved I would typically come home, start washing the plates that I forgot about this morning, get the oven on and start doing dinner. Just after I plate up, I’ll quickly wash the pots and pans before we eat so I only have the two plates to do in the morning… Since the move my routine has changed totally. You see, not only did I get the Instant Pot of my dreams, we also moved into a house with a built-in dishwasher! Now I come home, dump everything into the Instant Pot and let the dishwasher take care of the dishes… I have so much more free time!
I realised that I can cook a whole waddle of potatoes (for the creamiest mashed potatoes ever!), but what I did not foresee was the fact that we cannot possibly consume this many potatoes in one go. So what to do with the left-overs? Of course make cottage pie! Now the mash I made for our Bangers and Mash dinner was already cheesy so it is only natural that the Cottage Pie I’m about to make will be even cheesier!
The very first thing I did was diced a giant carrot along with a red onion and a few garlic cloves before frying it in a medium sized saucepan.
Next came the mince and I added this to the carrot-onion-garlic mix and fried it until it started sticking a bit to the bottom of the pan. The fun part was deglazing the pan with a glass of red wine! It really filled the kitchen with a lovely aroma.
I knew that I wanted to make some extra pies for the freezer, but I wasn’t sure whether or not I would have enough left-over mashed potato, so I layered in some frozen corn (the peas didn’t get delivered this week!) to bulk it up a little.
More cheese is a must before popping it into the oven for 15 minutes until it is golden on top and oozy on the the sides… (I totally forgot to take a picture of the pie covered in cheese!)
Only bake what you need and freeze the rest for a speedy dinner with either a side salad or some garlic bread.
Cheesy Cottage Pie
A quick, filling meal. Perfect for a chilly winter's evening.
Ingredients
- 4 cups left-over mashed potato
- 3 cloves garlic
- 500g 5% fat Beef mince
- 125ml red wine (the kind you want to drink)
- 1 Knorr stock pot (I’ve used vegetable, but I’m sure beef would’ve been even tastier)
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 cup frozen sweetcorn
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
Directions
- If you don’t have any left-over mashed potato, make this first.
- Turn the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
- In a medium to large saucepan, fry the carrots, onion and garlic together in a little oil for a few minutes until the onion is cooked.
- Put the beef into the saucepan and fry until completely brown.
- Add the red wine, stock pot, tomato paste and 125ml of water and let the pot simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.
- Add the sweetcorn and turn the heat down.
- Spoon meat-mixture into oven-proof dishes (either 4 individual dishes or one big dish.)
- Spoon or pipe the mashed potato over the meat.
- Scatter mozzarella over the top and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Serve with some veggies or a side salad.
Nutrition
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I love cottage pie, or as we call it shepherds pie. I find it’s a perfect meal during the winter months. I make a few before winter sets in and put them in the freezer. I totally need to add cheese to mine – cheese makes everything better.
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Yes, it really is the perfect winter’s meal – so filling. You are so right: cheese does make everything better! Here in the UK we call the pie made with beef mince a Cottage Pie and the one made with Lamb Mince is a Shepherd’s Pie 🙂
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I have cottage pie in the freezer that I’m thinking of having tonight. I’m going to have to have cheesy mash on it now! Yum!
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You can’t go wrong with a bit of cheese 🧀 Enjoy your cottage pie! Thank you for reading .xx
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Looks great, simple and delicious!
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Thank you Mark!
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