Cottage Pie

Cottage Pie - It's a warming winter dose of comfort food.

• For the filling
• 50gs of Unsalted Butter
• 1 Large White Onion
• 3 Large Carrots
• Olive Oil for frying the mince
• 1 tbsp of Plain White Flour
• Large-ish Glass of Red Wine
• Tablespoon of Tomato Puree
• Half Tablespoon of Tomato Ketchup
• 4 shakes of Worcester Sauce
• A few sprigs of fresh Thyme
• A small bunch of fresh Basil leaves
• 500ml of Chicken/Vegetable Stock
• 500g of Minced Beef
• A Bay Leaf
• Sea Salt
• Black Pepper
• For the Topping
• 6 Medium sized peeled Maris Pipers
• 50g Unsalted Butter
• Drop of Milk
• Sea Salt and Black Pepper to Season
• Enough Parmesan to grate over the top of the Pie

Filling:
1. Melt 50g of unsalted butter In a large frying pan over a low heat.
2. Whilst the butter is melting, peel a large onion, cut in half and then cut each half of the onion into strips just thinner than the width of a pound-coin.
3. When the butter has melted, throw the strips of onion into the pan and stir them round to coat with the contents.
4. Add a little sea salt and then cover the pan. The idea is to caramelise, without burning them, so just leave them on a very low heat to do their thing while preparing the other ingredients. Just attend to them every 5-10 minutes, giving them a good stir every now and again.
5. As the onions are browning heat some olive oil in a seperate pan over a medium heat.
6. Divide the mince into two halves.
7. When the oil is hot, add one half of the mince to it, and brown it.
8. Empty the cooked mince into a colander and brown the other half of the mince, adding it to the colander to drain off the fat.
9. Wash and peel the carrots, then cut into fairly chunky discs. They can be added to the pan when the onions are soft enough to crush with your fingers, golden in colour and sweet tasting.
10. Increase the heat under the veg and add a tablespoon of plain flour and stir it through the carrots and onions, cooking it for 30 seconds or so.
11. Pour a glass of red wine in in three parts, allowing each lug to bubble away. 12. Reduce the heat, add the Tomato Ketchup, Puree and Red Pesto and shake in the Worcester Sauce. Throw the stock in, season, add the thyme bay leaf, basil and drained mince.
13. Give it a good stir.
14. Season with salt and pepper and leave the mix to simmer for 15 minutes.

Topping:
1. Heat the oven to 200C.
2. Start heating some water to boiling point in a pan large enough to hold the Maris Piper potatoes.
3. Peel the potatoes.
4. Add salt to the boiling water and boil the peeled Maris Pipers for 15-20 minutes.
5. Drain, add the butter and milk, season and mash.

Pie time!
1. Pour the filling into a large oven proof dish.
2. Top with the mash and grate some parmesan over the top.
3. Put the pie in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden.
4. Eat and enjoy ;)