Skip to content

Cottage pie

  • 1 Onion, chopped
  • 1 Carrot, peeled, chopped
  • 1 Celery Stalk, chopped
  • 1 Garlic Clove, minced
  • 480 g Ground Beef
  • 1 T Tomato Paste
  • 160 g Stock or Water
  • 1 T Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 t Dried Thyme Leaves
  • 1/2 t Kosher Salt
  • 1/2 t Black Peppercorn, ground
  • 240 g Canned Black Beans, drained, rinsed
  • 80 g Frozen Peas
  • Mashed Potato Topping
    • 450 g Russet Potatoes, peeled, roughly chopped
    • 1 T Unsalted Butter
    • 30 g Whole Milk, warm
    • 25 g Parmesan, grated
    • 1/2 t Kosher Salt
    • 1/2 t Black Peppercorn, ground

Yields 4 servings.

  1. Brown beef. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef, breaking it up with a spoon. Cook until well browned. Transfer beef to a bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving the rendered fat in the skillet.
  2. Cook vegetables. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, carrot, and celery. Cook 5-7 minutes until softened. Stir in garlic and cook 1 minute more.
  3. Build filling. Return beef to the skillet. Stir in tomato paste, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, salt, and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes until thickened. Stir in black beans and frozen peas. Remove from heat.
  4. Boil potatoes. Place chopped potatoes in a large pot of salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes.
  5. Mash. Drain potatoes, reserving 30 g cooking water. Return potatoes to pot. Add butter, warm milk, salt, and pepper. Mash until smooth. Stir in parmesan. Add reserved cooking water a splash at a time if needed.
  6. Assemble. Transfer filling to a 9-inch pie tin. Spoon mashed potatoes over filling and spread to cover. Drag a fork across the surface to create ridges.
  7. Bake at 200ºC (400ºF) for 25-30 minutes until golden on top and bubbling at the edges.
  8. Rest 5-10 minutes before serving.

Double the recipe and bake in a 9x13-inch casserole dish.

  1. Garten, Ina. "Cottage Pie." Ina Garten Cooks. 28 December 2024. ↩