cottage pie

[chloemegjess]

hello. i want to make cottage pie today, with te leftover mash fron last night.

Anybody have a reciepe that is also suitable for babies? or 2 seperate recipes and I will make 2, one for us and one for our 6month old.

Also, because I cooked the mash last night, does this mean I cant freeze the leftovers? I would idelly like to put some in little pots for my DD and freeze, but the potato would have been cooked last night for dinner, kept in the fridge overnight, cooked on top of the cottage pie, and then possibly frozen and reheated? Is this ok or shoudld I avoid?

I dont think I have ever cooked a cottage pie! I am trying to get into cooking from scratch more now DD is eating too.

I don't have a proper baby-friendly recipe, so I'm sure someone else will be able to advise on that. However, as a guide try this recipe from Delia but just take out anything that isn't suitable for a 6 months old (I'm guessing the seasoning and maybe the tomato puree and herbs, and just replace the stock with water). This is a great recipe because of the extra veggies in with the mince. I would simply separate the meat out once cooked and then add seasoning to your portion - because you will reheat it in the oven when you want to eat it, that will give the seasoning plenty of time to flavour your portion. The cheese and leeks are optional but are really delicious - just add them when you have defrosted it and it's ready to go in the oven.

As the mash is already cooked, I would simply make up the meat sauce and place in your freezer dishes when cool and then put the mash on top before bunging into the freezer. No need to cook the two bits together before freezing. It's no problem that it has been in the fridge overnight. We do this all the time with cottage pie - make up double the mash and meat then put one lot in the freezer while the other lot cooks in the oven.

BTW, only difference between cottage pie and shepherds pie is that one is minced beef and one is minced lamb. All the other stuff can be done in the same way, so you can use the same recipe for both and just use whichever meat you have.

Good luck!

I don't know how you are supposed to make it, but when I do what I call cottage pie I do minced beef and then look in my cupboard and freezer and chuck in whatever takes my fancy....baked beans or sweetcorn or tomatoes or mushrooms or onions or leeks or any combination of the above, or whatever else might be around

I then mix mash, a knob of butter, some grated cheese, some onion salt and bung it on top, sprinkle some more cheese and sometimes some crushed crisps over the top and shove it in the oven.

I don't think I've ever followed a proper recipe for anything in my life. Dinnertime is never dull in this house.

Well. I killed this with my creative cooking tips, didn't I!

hecate - no, that was actually really helpful! Hate exact receipes, there is always something I dont have in!

I am making this tomorrow, and will gove some to my 7 month old. The only thing I will leave out is salt (and the veggie stock powder which contains salt) - I will replace the stock with lots of herbs. He'll be fine with tomato puree and herbs imo. I will freeze some pots for ds too. Good luck!

I personally would just make one cottage pie and then grownups add lashings of worcester sauce and ketchup all over theirs just before eating .

It's everso easy - I added mince, onions, tinned tomatoes, herbs & peas to mine and then grated cheese in to the mash to make the mash more interesting.

You can freeze the leftovers.