Cottage Pie is made with ground beef. Shepard’s pie is made with lamb. I love lamb, but it is expensive and hard to find so I make Cottage pie instead. This is Gordon Ramsay’s recipe (or close to it, he has never written it down). I watched his video several times and tried to duplicate it as closely as possible. He used lamb of course. Made it last night and it was really good. I let the chicken stock cook down a little too much and I thought the meat was a bit dry, so don’t let that happen to you.
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef, 80 / 20
3 medium russet potato, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, grated
1 large carrot, grated
2 cloves garlic, finely grated
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 glass red wine
1 cup chicken stock
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted softened butter
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
1/4 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
Method:
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until they can be easily pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside covered.
3. In a 10 inch cast iron pan, brown the ground beef and drain off the fat.
4. Add grated carrot, grated onion, grated garlic, salt and pepper and continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Add tomato paste, fresh thyme, rosemary, Worcestershire sauce, and red wine. Cook until wine is reduced.
6. Add chicken stock and cook until chicken stock is reduced by half. Add salt and pepper and taste for seasoning. Remove from heat.
7. Prepare mashed potatoes. Rewarm potatoes in their still covered pot to insure they are dry. In a bowl combine, warmed potatoes, egg yolks, butter, salt and pepper. Mix with a hand mixer.
8. Add cheeses and mix some more until smooth.
9. Spread meat mixture evenly across the bottom of the cast iron pan. Top with mashed potato mixture and spread mashed potatoes across the top.
10. Prick potatoes with a fork to make little peaks. This aids in the browning process.
11. Pop into the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove and let rest for a few minutes before serving.
