A Cottage Pie Journey

Whoo whee!  2 posts in one day.  I'm on fire!  Ha!  I told you I've been doing a lot of scratch cooking lately.

Tonight's dinner is a kicked up version of something I've been making since my bachlorette days.  Y'all have heard of Shepherd's Pie, right?  Well, technically that's made with lamb.  I don't cook lamb on a regular basis.  In fact, I don't think I've *ever* cooked lamb.  But, I do cook a lot of beef.  So I make what's called Cottage Pie, which is the same as Sherherd's Pie but instead of lamb you use beef.

In my bachlorette days I didn't want to make a whole casserole dish of it, so I'd bake a russet potato, dress it with butter and ranch dressing (for added flavor vs. sour cream) and put ground beef over that and top it with canned corn.

I kept making it this way for my family.  Until tonight.  I decided to make an actual casserole dish of Cottage Pie.  Ooo!  Ahhh!  But, I didn't want to just put ground beef in there, I wanted to transform it a little.  So after consulting food network dot com, I decided to take inspiration from a couple of different recipes and go my own way.  Here's what I ended up with.

Karin's Kottage Pie (ha, ha, ha.  See what I did there?)

I first boiled the Yukon Gold potatoes (I think they make smoother mashed potatoes than russets).  Of course, as I get more accustomed to this blogging thing I'll remember to take pictures of each step...

After browning the ground beef and draining off the grease I added beef broth, tomato paste and chopped garlic.

Then after combining those ingredients I added some flour to thicken the sauce.

I used a lot of butter and some cream in the mashed potatoes.

I began to build the casserole by layering the ground beef mixture in the bottom of an 8x8 pan.

Then I spread canned corn (drained) over the meat.

Then I forgot to take a picture of the finished dish before putting it in the oven.  *sigh*

Ta-da!  The finished dish after some time in the oven to heat through and brown the potatoes on top.

Here's a slice view after we cut into it.  I definitely need to up the ratio of meat mixture to potatoes, but again, I'm calling this a success as it was yummy, flavorful and Camera Guy liked it!  Cub liked the potatoes, as long as he didn't have to eat a brown part on top.  *sigh*  He's 7.5, what do you expect?

Here's the recipe:

Karin's Kottage Pie

Meat Mixture
1.25 lbs ground beef (80-20)
1 cup beef broth
4 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pepper to taste

Potatoes
4 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, diced
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream

1 can corn

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Add potatoes to water.  Boil until tender.

While the potatoes are boiling, brown ground beef in skillet, remove grease when done.  Add broth and tomato paste.  Whisk til incorporated.  Add garlic.  Stir.  Sprinkle flour around pan.  Stir to coat.  Lower heat to simmer.

While the meat mixture is simmering, drain the potatoes and mash.  Add butter and mix in until smooth.  Add heavy cream until creamy.  Set aside.

Layer meat mixture in 8x8 glass ungreased casserole dish.  Drain canned corn and spread corn on top of meat mixture.  Add mashed potatoes on top of corn and meat mixture.  With a spatula gently spread around pan, covering entire layer of meat and corn.

Put on foil lined cookie sheet and put in oven for 20-30 mins.  Turn oven to broil until top has a few golden brown spots.  Take cookie sheet out of the oven and allow to rest for 15 mins. before cutting into it.

Enjoy!

Karin's Notes: next time I'll add diced onions while browning the ground beef.  I left them out because I thought there might be more of a chance of Cub eating it if he didn't see onions.  No go.  He didn't like it anyway.  If it's not sauce on a pizza or ketchup for fries, he wants nothing to do with anything remotely having to do with tomatoes.

I'd also add the garlic with the onions and beef, allowing it time to develop it's flavors.  I might even try a splash of Worchestshire, again I left it out this time because to Cub.

Tonight's journey was a fun one that I've been wanting to take for a while, but time always seemed to get the better of me.  Today I set the time aside to do this.  I had all the ingredients already and was pleased I didn't have to run to the store "for 1 thing".

I also learned tonight that a lot of the pictures I take on my phone are blurry.  I journied tonight to the realization that for blogging purposes, I need to wear my glasses while taking pictures so I can tell immediately if it's too blurry and I need to take it again.  *sigh*  Getting old ain't for wimps.