Cottage Pie

  Posted on November 29, 2010  by Leslie Blythe  1 comment

An Easy Dinner

Cottage pie is usually made with ground beef and topped with mashed potatoes, but it’s a lot faster and easier to use potato slices.  This recipe comes from Everyday Food.

Cottage Pie

3 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
1 large onion, diced
2 large carrots, cut into ¾” pieces
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 lb ground beef or lamb
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dry thyme
2 cups beef broth, divided
2 Tbs flour
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 large russet potato (about 3/4 lb), very thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet, heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrots and cook, stirring often, until onion is soft, about five minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in tomato paste.

Add meat and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until almost cooked through, about three minutes. Add thyme and one cup beef broth and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring frequently, until slightly reduced, about two minutes. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir to combine. Add the remaining beef broth and cook until mixture thickens, about two minutes. Stir in peas and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Transfer mixture to a two-quart baking dish. Top with potatoes, overlapping slices. Season potatoes with salt and pepper and drizzle with two tablespoons olive oil. Bake until potatoes are browned around edges and tender when pierced with a knife, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.