The BF has been dropping hints about cottage pies & shepherd’s pies since forever. So one day, because I’m just so unbelievably awesome, I decided to materialise his wish.
It’s definitely not the type of cottage pies he grew up eating. For one the ones he’s accustomed to pies that have no chillies. And, it’s nowhere near the standard of his grandmother’s (which according to him is the best cottage pie in the whole wide world) BUT mine was juicy and delicious ;)
So if you’re interested in making an impressive looking, impressive tasting but impressively simple dish, here goes:
For the filling:
- 1 chili, sliced
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 1 carrot, grated
- 2 handfuls of frozen peas
- 1 small bottle of beer
- 300+ gm of minced beef
- 3 tablespoons of ketchup
For the crust:
- Peeled & chopped 8 small potatoes, or 2 large ones
- Some milk (or whipping cream, which I naughtily used :P)
- Salt & pepper
# – First of all, heat up some oil in a pot and brown the minced beef.
# – Throw in the onions. Stir.
# – Throw in the chillies. Stir.
# – Throw in the grated carrots. Stir.
# – Pour in beer till it covers the top of mixture slightly. Stir.
# – Throw in 3 tablespoon of ketchup. Stir.
# – Throw in 1 tablespoon of salt. Stir.
# – Throw in frozen peas. Stir.
Leave mixture to simmer till everything is pretty soft and the liquid reduced by half. If it’s too dry, add more beer :D During this time, boil some chopped potatoes for making mash. I steamed mine though cause I’m just preppy like that.
# – Mash the potatoes, add some milk, salt & pepper. Throw in some cheese if you’re not on a diet, why not? If you’ve got your own favourite version of mash potato, use it.
# – Pour the beef mixture into a casserole dish.
# – Spread mash potato all over the surface of the beef mixture, making sure there’s no hole in the crust anywhere.
# – Looks good enough to eat but it’s not done yet!
# – Stick it in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes at 190 degrees celcius.
# – After 30 minutes, bring the cottage pie out to rest.
# – Or dig in immediately, like what we did :)
This cottage pie is very juicy and flavourful. There’s no need to make any stock as the liquid is all from the beer. There’s a good kick from the chillies though if you can’t take the heat so well you can always omit the chillies.
# – YUMMMS!
My favourite thing about this dish? It’s a complete meal all in one bowl which means, less washing up! Hehehehe.
Yes to cottage pie! More please!
ok dear..
dump n stir GOT IT! lols…good job^^
my man likes em pies too^^ mine usually darker coz i cheat with a lil bbq sauce^^ and with celery instead of carrots. I’ll put them in muffin tins/ bowls so if cant finish can keep in fridge n they still look yummy^^
ooh bbq sauce! my man loves it too, i’ll try it next time :D
man, the pie looks fantastic!
it tasted fantastic tooo! /self praise
are we gonna see lots more beer related recipes? hahah
you bet! hehehehe
Wah its so hard to stick to my diet with all these delicious food posts!
hehehe sorry mark, there will be MORE!
That looks delicious! I definitely have to try this!
thank you! let me know how it goes ya! :)
Oooohhhh another recipe yayy! I love sheperd’s pie! It looks simple and divine! May I add I like the colours the carrots, peas and chillies are giving the filling? Like traffic light LOL! Love it…. :)
thanks tien! hope you’ll make it and improve it further like you did with the meatballs :D
Looks very Good! My Granddad used to make a cottage pie recipe where he used 1/3 of a bottle Newcastle Brown Ale mixed in with one teaspoon of Worcester sauce.He used to diss me as I always liked putting heaps of HP sauce on it…lol. How come reading your blog makes me hungry!
hehe sorry about making you hungry. ale and worcester sauce, i’ll be sure to keep that in mind! my BF looooves HP sauce btw, i don’t haha