Re-entering the Kitchen: Cottage Pie for 3

Shepherd’s Pie (or more appropriately called Cottage Pie if lamb wasn’t used) has been a regular item on our family dinner menu for as long as we could remember. I was introduced to the dish by a dear friend many years ago.

As Hannah has more teeth and greater exposure to different types of foods, she could handle adult’s meals with us at home. Cottage Pie is a one-dish meal which the three of us could all partake. Hannah enjoyed sitting down to eat with us at the dinner table too.

There are many variations of the recipe depending on one’s preference but the main concepts of preparing 2 layers and then baking it remain more or less the same. So here’s my recipe.

Ingredients

The bottom layer

Minced meat (pork or beef or mixed) – 250 to 300 g

Fresh white  button mushrooms – 1 tub (200 to 250 g), brush off dirt and cut all the dead ends of each stem, halved first and then sliced

Carrot – 1 small stick, peeled, quartered longitudinally, slice across thinly

Celery – 1/2 stick, halved longitudinally, slice across thinly

Fresh sweet corn on cob – 1/2 cob, slice off the kernels

Red (or any colour) capsicum – 1/2, diced

Tomato – 1 medium, diced

Onion – 1 small bulb, diced

Garlic – 3 cloves, minced

Light soy sauce – 1 tbsp

Dark soy sauce – 2 to 3 tbsp

Worcestershire sauce – 1 tsp

Tomato paste – 2 tbsp

Corn flour – 2 tsp

Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp

The top layer

Russet potatoes – 3 medium, peeled, cut into chunks

Spring onion – 5 stalks, sliced the green portions thinly

Mayonnaise – 2 tbsp

Fresh milk – 3 tbsp

Cheddar cheese slices – 2 slices, break into pieces

Ground black pepper – dashes

Pan salt – dash (for salting the water used for cooking potatoes)

Method

1) Starting with the vegetable that needs to stay as dry as possible (due to contact with hot oil later), mince garlic and then chop onion. Set aside. Then do all the necessary cutting for other vegetables (i.e. mushrooms, carrot, celery, sweet corn, capsicum, tomato, spring onion and potatoes).

2) Preheat the oven to 190 degree celsius.

3) Bring a pot of potato chunks in lightly salted water to boil. When the water has starting boiling, lower the heat to medium to continue boiling for at least another 15 minutes.

4) While the potatoes are being cooked, start heating the wok and add vegetable oil. Saute the garlic until fragrant. Add onion and saute for a few minutes.

5) Add all other vegetables (except for mushrooms) and stir fry until tender (another couple of minutes). Add mushrooms and stir fry until they soften.

6) Make a well in the centre of the wok and add minced meat into it. Break up the meat and stir fry at the same time until it is just cooked. Start mixing all the contents in the wok well.

7) Add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste and stir well. Add corn flour and stir well to thicken any juices from the ingredients.

8) Transfer the cooked filling into an oven-proof baking dish.

9) Drain the potatoes and placed them in a big bowl. Add cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, milk and pepper and mash together with the potatoes. Add spring onion and stir evenly.

10) Carefully spread the mashed potato on top of the filling with a metal spoon.

11) Place the dish into the preheated oven to bake for 15 – 20 mins. Then switch to grill mode to brown the top lightly. Remove from the oven and serve hot. :D

Note: It is unnecessary to bake the dish for long as all the ingredients are cooked. And if you’re quick in your preparations, the filling would be still quite warm when you put it into the oven. Hence, you could reduce baking time.