cottage pie without tomato??

[Icanseewhyichangednyusername]

how do i make cottage pie with gravy? A lot of recipes call for tomato sauce etc but i am hankering for old school meaty mash potato brown gravy cottage pie!!!

Ive tried without the tomato and it just tasted incredibly bland

Help!

xxx

I brown the meat, remove it and then soften chopped onion, carrots and celery in the same pan, return the meat and add a tableapoon or two of flour, cook for a couple of minutes and then add either homemade stock or made -up stock depending on what I have in, add bay leaves, fresh thyme and a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce and then simmer for about an hour.

Strain and save the extra gravy for pouring over, then put the strained mixture in an oven dish and top with mashed potatoes and cheese if you fancy.

And taste the gravg whilst cooking, season or add a bit of extra Worcestershire if it's tasting a bit bland.

I'm lazy. Brown onion, brown mince, add stock, season, add Bisto granuals.

Put in oven dish, top with frozen mash. Serve with carrots and peas on the side as DS wont eat those.

Good advice there!

I would say that I tend to add maybe a tablespoon of tomato puree. You don't really taste it but it adds to the meatiness of any minced beef recipe IMO

all good tips! And all things i have in so wish me luck. ShrikeAttack that looks right up my alley and WaxOnFeckOff i think bits might well be the "secret ingredient" my mother would add from my childhood.

The best way is using homemade stock that has been reduced to intensify the flavour to make the gravy. It doesn't work with shop bought stock though because it has too much salt I learnt that the hard way.

If I don't have stock, I make up a small amount of gravy using Bisto Best gravy granules but slightly thicker than normal (2 very heaped tsp in 1/4 pint for 400/500g of mince). You don't want too much gravy, just enough that it looks moist rather than floating in the stuff. I also add an OXO cube. You could add Worcester sauce or Maggi seasoning to taste instead. When you taste it in the pan, you want it to have a slightly stronger flavour than you would like the final taste to be because the flavour is diluted when you are eating it with the mash IYSWIM.

My basic recipe is 400g steak mince, 6 thin streaky bacon rashers chopped up or lardons (approx 100g), a medium onion (or soffrito if you like the sweetness of the carrots), lots of garlic puree and gravy. Soften the onion, then add the bacon until cooked, add the garlic puree and mince, cook the mince until browned, then add the gravy. I top with mash made with just a small amount of butter, and gruyere or cheddar cheese on top of that. Cook at 190C until the cheese is bubbling and browned. My grandmother was French and it is her recipe for the French equivalent of cottage pie.

I add a dollop of marmite for a deeper flavour, but be carefully when seasoning to reduce salt.

orange nasturtium when can i come to yours for dinner?! that sounds so yummy. and yes the oxo cube was also a childhood ingredient so will try that next time. thank you

I'm making that orangenasturtium!

Use gravy granules.

Tomatoes are yuk in cottage pie. But tomato ketchup is the dogs bollocks in it!😋

I brown mince, then add in diced onions, celery & carrots. I make the gravy with a squeeze of tomato puree, oxo cube, 1teaspoom of marmite and a dash of Henderson's www.hendersonsrelish.com/, marjoram to taste and a good grind of black pepper boiling water to cover the mince mixture and cook down. Tog can add conflict to thicken up the gravy once it has cooked before transferring to an oven proof dish. I add peas at this stage, top with mash. Every now and then I cover the mash with shredded, steamed leeks, cover in cheese and pop in the oven until the cheese is all bubbly!

Corn flour not conflict!

I have never used tomato. Use oxo, add water and simmer until thickened.

I've never heard of tomato in cottage pie

I tend to add a nice big dollop of English mustard while the gravy meat carrot and onion is simmering plus black pepper or sometimes add horseradish into the mash

I don't use gravy just mixed herbs and worcestershire sauce and maybe a bit of tomato paste but I don't like a lot of tomato in but I put baby tomatoes on top though.

It is a dish I don't like to have a lot of taste in it as to be it is meant to be bland (in a good way) although there is a million versions so no right way I don't think

We use worcestershire sauce and daddies sauce, a few mixed herbs, but never tomatoes, I did not know that was a thing. Taste it as you go along would be my advice. We also put cheese on top of the mashed potato before it goes in the oven.

Dried mushroom powder adds flavour

Delia Smith has a good recipe: www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/british/shepherds-pie-with-cheese-crusted-leeks

I never use tomato. I put a small teaspoon of curry paste in mine, not enough to make it taste like curry but just adds a bit of flavour.

I use oxo cubes, water and ... marmite!
I use about a desert spoonful, you can't taste that it's marmite but it adds a yummy umami flavour! I also like to add mushrooms as I forage loads of tasty ones at this time of year!

Onions, carrots and celery diced really finely and fried off, add mince and brown. 2 oxo cubes, enough water to cover plus salt and pepper and Hendersons relish or Worcestershire sauce, liberally applied. Simmer for about 45 mins to an hour. Mix some bisto best, quite thickly almost to a paste and lob that in and stir until you have gravy like consistency.

Use a slotted spoon and remove from gravy, ladel of gravy over the mince so it's not too dry, top with quite a dry mash, not too much milk when mashing and brown in oven.

Controversial but we sometimes have beans on the side. Or if not green veg.

fry a finely chopped onion, when 'clear' add the mince and cook until brown. Add flour, about 25-50g and cook in to the beef, it will look terrible at this stage but don't worry.

Add and oxo cube and water, the cooked flour will thicken the gravy.

This is when you can add bits, I tend to add frozen sweet corn and peas. Experiment with worcestershire sauce, mushroom ketchup (Queen Delia seems to add this to most things) tomato puree, marmite etc. I don't add anything at this stage other than the veg.

Once the gravy is thickened put in an ovenproof dish, top with mash (mash should include at least one of the following, butter, cream, milk, parsnip, leeks) dot butter over the mash to make it brown and bake for 25mins.