Tell me your cottage pie secrets

[anothergilmore]

What are you adding to your cottage pie to make it extra tasty?

I usually just follow a traditional recipe and would love some inspiration!

Brown sauce a good dollop.of it mixes into mince

A squirt of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce.

Both magic cheffy tricks.

And, wierd one this, try it without carrots. (Serve them seperately) I've found some people prefer it. I think it's the sweetness.

I had a tin of beans to the mince before adding the mash.

Spoon of Bovril in with the mince to really beef JT up!

On top of normal recipes, I put in:

some browned pancetta or chorizo
Red lentils
Any veg like courgettes hanging in the fridge, which I purée to hide from my veg hating kids
Cheese stirred into the mash

Mine is an old Tamasin Day Lewis recipe.

I fry off onions and celery along with diced carrots. Add diced cooked roast beef or minced beef and brown. Add beef stock concentrate, a squeeze of tomato puree and a couple of tablespoons of worcestershire sauce. Cook for a few minutes and then add a handful of chopped parsley and cook for a further 10 minutes before covering with mash and putting in the oven.

I think it needs a dash of lots of things to give flavour: W sauce, mustard, ketchup, brown sauce. Just about everything in my cupboards go in mine.

I think it needs a dash of lots of things to give flavour: W sauce, mustard, ketchup, brown sauce. Just about everything in my cupboards go in mine.

I made a veggie one yesterday (we do eat some meat). Puy lentils, smoked paprika, wine, garlic, sundried tomato puree, onion, veg stock cube and probably something else I have forgotten.

For the topping I like something champ like. Yesterday it was peas squashed with a fork, grated cheese and finely chopped spring onions because I had them, sometimes leeks, always cheese in the mash.

It was lovely. No one missed the meat thankfully.

passata, forgot that - only because my tins of tomatoes are kept outside and it was in the pantry.

My grandma taught me how she made it. She actually roasted the mince! Hear me out. You mix a handful of flour with the raw mince, then pour over a mug of hot bovril over and put it in the oven for 30-40 mins, stir occasionally to her the brown top bits all mixed in. It sounds weird but the flour makes the meat tender and juicy and it makes its own gravy.

No other ingredients are needed, it really does taste amazing!

I make mine with leftover roast beef or lamb(shepherds pie obviously), fry some onions in the fat, add leftover veg and gravy - hold back cabbage and add that to mashed potato topping.