Cottage/Shepherds or Meat, and Potato Pie

Everyone knows how to make one of them, I hear you cry. Not true. I have found that many families don’t only struggle with budgeting but in many cases actually do not know HOW to cook.

It is nothing to be ashamed of, the demise of home economics classes, the break up of families, the need for a full working week to make ends meet means that our children, the children of the 80s and 90s have missed out on learning.

This is where sites like this and people like Pat are invaluable, we as co-contributors can help in our own small way to teach and support those who need it.

You will need a large frying pan/wok, a saucepan, an ovenproof dish, a peeler and sharp knife, potato masher

Serves as many as needed and freezes well

Time 1hr ish

Oven GM6 or 180c

Ingredients

• 250 g to 500 g mince (ideally lamb, beef or beef and pork but whatever is affordable)
• 1 onion chopped
• a couple of carrots or one small tin
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 beef stock cube
• salt and pepper
• Sprinkle of herbs
• 400g to 500g potatoes, peeled and cubed

Method

1. Peel the potatoes, cube them and put them on the hob to boil and cook.
2. Break the mince down into the frying pan or wok, add the onion, herbs and salt. Fry it over until sealed and slightly brown and the onions are soft.
3. Add the tomatoes, carrots, stock cube and half a tin (use the tomato one) of water. Add the salt and pepper. Leave on a slow, low heat to bubble through and finish cooking while you wait for the potatoes.
4. Once the potatoes have been boiling for 20 mins, use the tip of the sharp knife to check if they are cooked. It should go through the potato easily. If cooked, drain and add a scrape of margarine to them. Mash them well and then add a sploosh (the time it takes to say sploosh) of milk. Mash the milk through giving you a creamy potato to use for your topping.
5. Transfer the meat mixture into the ovenproof dish and cover with spoonfuls of mashed potato.
6. If you have some cheese to grate on top then do but if you don’t, don’t worry, a crispy top is just as good. Bake for about 20 to 30 mins until golden.

As an aside…

A sploosh of Worcester Sauce in the meat can add to it

If you don’t have much meat but have carrots, mushrooms, sweetcorn etc, go heavy on the veg to spread it out.

If you don’t have an oven you can still do this by putting it under a grill to brown the top, generally, both halves are already hot and are certainly cooked which means just browning.