T think the only difference between cottage pie and spa bol is one has potatoes on top and the other has pasta on the bottom?

[TwosaCrowd]

Unless I've been doing something massively wrong all these years? Both just onion, garlic, mince, p'raps mushrooms and maybe chopped or grated carrot.

TO think and SPAG bol

i don't put passata in my shepherd's pie.

What about tomatoes, italian herbs, red wine in the bolognese?

I don't put tomatoes in my shep pie. Also I find shep pie needs more meat.

Depends, do you put tomatoes in your cottage pie?

If you add beans and spices it's chilli too btw...

No! Spag Bol has loads of tomato/passata in it. And red wine and stock.

Um no. I wouldn't put tomatoes or garlic in a cottage pie. Or peppers or basil. Yes to onions and maybe mushrooms.

Bolognese is a red dish. Cottage pie is brown.

YABU.

Totally different. Alot more meat in a cottage pie.

Yes, I was thinking tomatoes, and I don't even cook.

see thats what I thought, but all the recipes online (well, BBC, slimming world and All Recipes) say to put a tin of chopped toms in, SW even say a tin of CT and a tin of passata as well

-apologies for shitty typing, am doing it one handed with baby asleep on the other!

YABU. Spag bol more tomatoey and cottage pie more root vegetabley.

I don't put tomato in my shepherd's pie or cottage pie! Do you, really??

No mushrooms either.

I put baked beans in my cottage pie & no mushrooms or peppers so definitely 2 totally different dishes in my house

Do you top shepherd's pie with parsley breadcrumbs?

Seriously, I think they are very different. And I'm vegetarian, so should know nothing.

Cottage pie has gravy. Bolognese has a tomato based sauce.
The only common ingredients (when I make them, anyway!), are mince, onion, oregano, and stock cubes (lazy!).

I find all meals with mince quite similar.

But my spag bol has dolmio, tinned toms, oregano, onion

My cottage pie has beef stock, thyme, onion, tom puree.

Actually maybe they are pretty much the same.

But I put a couple of tablespoons of Branston in my cottage pie....it's a revelation!!!

I put tomato puree and tinned toms in my shepherd's pie!

God no! 2 totally different recipes in this house.

I think that yes, you have been doing it massively wrong all these years!

I make up a quantity of spag bol sauce with tomatoes wine garlic etc, freeze portions and serve either with pasta or in a cottage pie depending what we fancy. We like tomato and garlicky cottage pies!

www.slimmingworld.com/recipes/cottage-pie.aspx

Ingredients

Low calorie cooking spray
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500g lean beef mince (5% fat or less)
300g chopped kale
400g tin chopped tomatoes
200g passata
6 tbsp tomato purée
Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1kg potatoes
200g fat-free natural fromage frais
160g reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, grated
Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas 6. Boil the potatoes in a large saucepan of lightly salted water for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain. Add the fromage frais, mash until smooth and set aside.
Spray another pan with low calorie cooking spray, add the onion and garlic, fry for 5 minutes. Add the minced beef and cook for a few minutes until the beef is brown.
Stir in the kale, chopped tomatoes, passata, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce and herbs. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Spoon the beef mixture into an oven proof dish and spread the mash over the top and sprinkle with cheese. Place into a hot oven for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve with lots of

• See more at: www.slimmingworld.com/recipes/cottage-pie.aspx#sthash.Jm8nbXqO.dpuf

As well as the tomato based sauce differences, there are no peas in my spag bol either.

Er yeah, they're totally different. I'd never put carrots in spag bol (although I recently learned I seem to be in a minority with this).

Shepherds pie is more kind of...savoury, gravy tasting. I'd put a bit of Bisto in a shepherds pie but I wouldn't in a spag bol.

And like pp have said, spag bol has tomato in!

They are different, although they do share some ingredients in common.

Apart from spag bol being very tomatoey and cottage pie not being tomatoey at all, you'd use different herbs - oregano and basil in spag bol, parsley/sage/rosemary/thyme in cottage pie. You might add red wine to spag bol but wouldn't to the pie, though you could add ale to that.

There are also different lists of things you might add to stretch them - sweetcorn or sweet pepper would go in the pasta but not the pie, for example.

I knew there was a reason I didn't trust Slimming World. That recipe sounds all wrong!