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Beef Mince Cottage Pie Recipe – Quick Dinner

Cottage pie is a comfort food favorite. This easy recipe is a British classic but has been adapted by many countries as ultimate comfort food, personally one of my favorite winter dishes.

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We often try to find for comfort food during winter because we love the cosiness that food brings to us. This ultimate pie is made with beef mince cooked in red wine sauce, hmmm maybe I like it so much because there is wine in it!!!! 🙂 topped with mashed potato and grated parmesan, that gives the crusty edges. Now that is something I want to have in front of a wood fire, covered in a blanket with a nice glass of red wine.

What’s the difference between cottage pie and shepherd’s pie?

It’s basically the same dish but cottage pie uses beef mince and shepherds pie uses lamb mince. if you feel like making a shepherds pie then just swap the beef for lamb and tada you got an ultimate shepherd’s pie.

The beef mince mix is basically a bolognese, but you add red wine and vegetables into it. I am not going too crazy with the veggies but I am going to add carrots, celery and peas for this base, which is the classical vegetables that you find in any cottage pie.

Then when it comes to the mashed potato, it’s not a traditional creamy mash potato, we call this duchess potatoes because we add an egg yolk to it, so it binds the mashed potato together which will help for it not to be watery when cooked in the oven. It also helps me pipe the potatoes.

When entertaining guests, I like to decorate my food, so I normally pipe roses from the potatoes, but you can just spread on the top.

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This is also a great economical and budget-friendly dish that is a one-pot meal that can be enjoyed with your family or easy to entertain guests with.

People who know me know that I love to entertain guests in my house and I would never serve food cold, I would always want to serve it hot and made on the spot, so having a bake makes my life so easy because all I have to do is prepare it before and then bake it when its time to serve.

What to have cottage pie with

Cottage pie can be served with a good garden salad, honey glazed carrots and steamed vegetables, and in my case, I will have a glass or no cut that a bottle of wine to go with it 🙂

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Two tips to get the right cottage pie

It’s important to add an egg to the mash, because if the mash is not thick enough it will sink to the beef, so use the egg yolk specified in the recipe

Make sure to cook the beef into a thick consistency, because if the mixture is thin and watery, it will release more water in the oven and won’t look appetising when scooping the potato and the meat after cooked in the oven.

This scratch-made cottage pie will be truly divine to enjoy just with your family or with guests any time of the year.

What type of wine to use for cottage pie

Honestly, I use leftover wine that I have, if you are buying wine, just buy very cheap wine, some shops even have cooking wine. you don’t need an expensive wine to make this a good dish.

You can also try my chicken pie recipe and other dinner recipes

Watch how to make Cottage pie

Step by step guide how to make cottage pie

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Beef Mince Cottage Pie Recipe

Beef mince cooked in red wine sauce topped with potato
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Calories:

Servings: 4 people

Equipment

  • Oven

Ingredients

Mash Potato

  • 700 g Big Potatoes (Roughly 4 potatoes)
  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 20 g Parmesan cheese

Beef mince base

  • 3 tbsp Oil Olive oil/canola/Vegetable oil
  • 1 Onion Brown (Chopped)
  • 2 Garlic cloves Chopped
  • 2 Carrots Chopped
  • 2 Celery stalks Chopped
  • 2 sprigs Thyme Chopped
  • 100 g Green peas
  • 500 g Beef mince
  • 100 g Tomato paste
  • 10 g Worcestershire sauce
  • 200 g Red wine
  • 150 g Beef stock Can substitute with beef powder ( 2tsp of beef powder with 150 water)

Assembly

  • 50 g Butter Melted
  • Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Beef mince

  • Heat a pan with oil on a medium heat
  • Add onion and garlic and cook until softened
  • Add in carrots, celery, thyme and cook until softened, then add the beef mince breaking it up as you go, until browned. finally, add the peas
  • Add in tomato paste and cook well
  • Add in the tomato paste, red wine, stock, Worcestershire sauce and cook until the mixture is thick

Mash potato

  • Boil the potatoes in water until well cooked
  • Drain off the water and mash it using a whisk, add in the egg yolks, parmesan, salt and pepper and mix well until fully incorporated.
  • if the mixture is too thick add in 2 tbsp of milk or cream to loosen it a little bit

Assembly

  • Preheat oven to 200C (conventional)
  • Add in the beef mixture to the bottom of the ovenproof tray
  • Spread mash onto the pie, use a fork to draw squiggles over the surface or pipe the mixture Sprinkle with parmesan, drizzle with butter
  • Bake it in the oven for 30 mins until it has a golden-brown crust on the top
  • Serve hot

Video

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