Rich, luxurious cottage pie recipe?

[CornishGem1975]

I really fancy making a cottage (or shepherds) pie this week, and I have a decent enough recipe/method but I fancy making something a bit different. Does anyone have a good recipe?

Ive made an Indian version before by putting some spices/curry powder in the meat mix then cumin seeds in the mash and top with grated cheese.

I have made it using a ragu method but without tomato:
Soffrito
Garlic,
Smoked bacon lardons
Chicken livers
beef and pork mince.
Wine
Stock
It was really rich and meaty.

Sometimes I top cottage or shepherds pie with half potato half sweet potato mash for a sweeter finish.

Both work well.

I like a chilli con carne version topped with a mixed root vegetable mash made with sour cream, cheese and jalapeños.

Add some crumbled black pudding in with the meat sauce. Game changer for flavour.

This was contributed on a thread by someone who claimed to work for M&S, IIRC, and to be the original recipe of their Empire Pie, which isn't sold any more. I tried it (possibly not following it to the letter - can't remember if I added onion seeds) and liked it. We thought it best to call it Post-Colonial Pie.

500g lamb mince (10-15% fat is best)
30g medium curry powder
1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
50g mango chutney
50g tomato puree
3 lamb stock cubes
300g water
20g cornflour
Topping
500g peeled diced potato cooked until soft
100ml double cream
15g chopped coriander
20g onion seeds

For the base, fry off the lamb mince in a hot pan along with the onion until the meat is brown, add the curry powder and cook on a medium heat while stirring for 2 minutes. Add the water, cover and Simmer with a lid on for 20 minutes, adding more water if it looks dry. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the cornflour and mix well. Mix the corn flour with 100ml of water and thicken the base.
When the potatoes are cooked, drain and let steam until dry, blitz or mash through with the cream and a good pinch of salt (the M&S product had crushed not mashed potato) then stir through the onion seed and coriander. In an oven tray, spread the base and top with the potato - bake in a pre-heated oven at 180c fan for 25-30 mins.

I’d probably make a slow cooker bourguignon type of stew using shin of beef, then pull the beef apart in the sauce and top with leek and cheddar mash.

Maybe a vegetarian cottage pie is too different, but I made this curried lentil cottage pie with saag aloo topping and it was great. I'd add in a spoon of curry powder along with the garam masala to add more earthy notes to it.

Thank you! Some good ideas here - I will save them all. Love the sound of adding black pudding @murasaki

I do something similar, but using toms. I make a huge batch, then it can be a simple bolognaise topping for pasta, lasagne, shepherds pie, moussaka.

Delia did a shepherd's one years ago that my mum used to make. Was rich, with leeks in the mash topping I think. There was also cinnamon in it, which we didn't like to used to leave out.