Beef
Cottage pie with leeks and potato topping
A comforting classic cottage pie. This has a rich minced beef base, topped with a layer of sweet, tender leeks, and a buttery potato and cheese topping. Either go down the route of scooping this out of one large bake, or, if you have suitable oven proof ramekins, you can make individual pies and knock a few minutes off the cooking time.
Ingredients
- 50g butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 150g button mushrooms
- 3 carrots, diced
- 800g minced beef
- 150ml red wine
- 200ml beef stock
- 2-3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 2 large leeks, washed, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 25g butter
- 800g peeled potatoes
- 40g butter
- 50ml milk
- 75g strong Cheddar cheese, grated
- fresh parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4.
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Step 2
Melt the butter in a large frying pan and fry off the onion, mushrooms and carrot until turning golden, remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. Break up the minced beef and add to the pan, frying over a higher heat to brown it, season well, and make sure that the meat doesn't 'clump' together.
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Step 3
Once browned add the red wine and cook until almost evaporated. Lower the heat and add stock, Worcestershire sauce and tomato purée. Return veg to the pan and cook for a further 15 minutes over a low heat.
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Step 4
In a clean frying pan, sauté the leeks in butter until they begin to wilt.
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Step 5
Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water, drain and mash with plenty of butter and milk to smooth and creamy, fold in half of the cheese. Now make the pie by spooning the meat sauce into a baking dish, spread the leeks over, top completely with the potato and sprinkle over the remaining Cheddar.
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Step 6
Bake for about 30 minutes to browning, on removing from the oven scatter with finely chopped parsley and serve.
