January 13, 2012

Thursday: Comforting Cottage Pie


How can you not love a good cottage pie? A fabulous quick-fix meal that will satisfy your palate and fill up your tummy. The recipe is loosely adapted from Rachel Ray's 30-mins Shepherd's Pie. 

The difference between Cottage Pie and Shepherd Pie is the meat used. Cottage pie uses beef while Shepherd Pie uses lamb or mutton. Shepherd..Sheep..got it? he he Anyway, Adam ate twice. Husband loves it too. That can only mean one thing. The dish will make a comeback any time in the near future. :)

Comforting Cottage Pie
Loosely adapted from: Rachel Ray's 30-mins Shepherd's Pie )
Served 3-4
Note: 


Ingredients
5 medium sized potatoes, such as russet, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons sour cream or softened cream cheese
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup cream, for a lighter version substitute vegetable or chicken broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 3/4 pounds ground beef or ground lamb
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped

RC: I added 3 stalks of celery-chopped 
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup beef stock or broth
2 teaspoons Worcestershire, eyeball it 

I used Oyster sauce
1/2 cup frozen peas, a couple of handfuls
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves


Directions

1. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. 

2. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. 
3. Combine cream cheese, egg yolk and cream. 
4. Add the cream mixture into potatoes and mash until potatoes are  
   almost smooth.(I added 2,3 spoons of flour, to thicken the   
   mash)
5. While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high 

   heat. 
6. Add oil to hot pan with beef. Season meat with salt and pepper.
7. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. 
8. Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. 
9. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently. 
10.In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour 
   together 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and oyster sauce. Thicken 
   gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables.
11. Preheat oven to high. 

12. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable 
    mixture. 
13. Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. 
14. Top potatoes with paprika and baked until potatoes are evenly 
    browned. Top casserole dish with chopped parsley and serve. 

23 comments:

  1. RC,
    Looks yummehlicious! No wonder the lil Adam went for seconds.

    Have always been confused between Cottage and Shepherd pie that at the end I just refer them both as pie. Haha! Now I got it, thanks!

    And btw, yours look million times BETTER than mine la. No doubt. What lens are you using if you don't mind me asking :)

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  2. Tak tsk.. It's Friday time to eat all the gd food! Memanglah comfort food benda ni.. Easy n di sukai ramai! Hv a blast wkend dear

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  3. shall i make this tonight!??

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  4. Patin,

    I got 35mm and 50mm only hahaFor this photo, I used 50mm..

    .. I'm not good at styling the photo tho..:( The photo always end up like it's been staged.. To me, you're good in styling.. :) See the napkin tail on my pic above.. Distracting.. Haha x kuasa nak photoshop tgh2 malam..

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  5. K Rima,

    Yeay! It's weekend!! Time utk berjimba haha have a good one yourself sis :)

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  6. KG,

    Of course.. Kata nak barter haha I'll be making your Cheesecake brownie today.. ;) esok mahu shopping ke mustafa.. Mahu kirim? Hihi

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  7. owh.. nyummy!! i'm drooling all over.. ate neither beef nor mutton, kalau guna ayam, nama dia jadi apa? hihihi ;p

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  8. Tun,

    A twisted Cottage Pie I suppose? he he

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  9. RC or is it now FI..hehe

    Loved this! Gorjess..I bet taste yummy too!

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  10. Wow! nice. I love cottage pie too and it's one of my favourite comfort food.

    For the filling, I prefer to use diced beef instead of ground beef for better texture. I also add frozen peas and canned mushrooms which are quartered. I leave out the cream cheese but mashed the potatoes with salted butter (pref Golden Churn).

    My family eats this dish with chilli padi and sliced shallots in kicap manis.

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  11. kak RC..this pie looks delicious. ada cross section photo tak? hehe

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  12. Salam kenal RC,
    Minta izin link ur blog with mine ya. Tq

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  13. Hi dear. I wanna thank U for this, looks too good to pass. Hugs....

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  14. Anything with mash is a winner! You've piped the potato so beautifully!

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  15. K Yat,

    To me, this recipe is a keeper.. Mmg sedap part mashed potato tu bila dah mix ng cream cheese..

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  16. Cara,

    Would love to try your rendition of this classic.. Part cili padi tu mcm syok!

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  17. Cahya,

    Tak sempat nak amik gambar cedok haha dah ptg and nak cepat sbb nak bwk Adam gi playground.. Next time insyaaAllah

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  18. Salam Mama Tim,

    :) Okeh ramai blogger baru.. Harus visit your 'house' jap lagi hehe

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  19. Hi Shirley,

    Thanks Shirley.. I wanted to pipe but time wasn't on my side.. So I used fork to make the mash looked like that..

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