Shepheds, Cottage Or Cumberland Pie.

Jamie's Home Cooking Skills
Shepherd's pie is a classic British dish - a meat pie with a crust of mashed potato.
In England they would call the beef dish a “cottage pie” and the lamb dish “shepherd’s pie”.
Topping the potato crust with breadcrumbs actually turns your dish into a “Cumberland pie”.
SO - in a shepherd's pie, the meat is lamb (there is a clue in the name) yet in a cottage pie it is beef.
A Cumberland pie can be either meat.
Otherwise, they are all but the same.

Shepherd's pie recipe!
Make sure you buy the best quality mince you can afford, as it really makes the dish.
serves 6

Ingredients
• 1 red onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks of celery
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a small bunch of fresh rosemary
• olive oil
• 500g good-quality minced lamb
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 250ml lamb or vegetable stock, preferably organic
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1.5kg Desiree potatoes
• 100ml semi-skimmed milk
• a large knob of butter

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To prepare and cook your mince
• Peel and roughly chop the onion and carrots
• Trim and roughly chop the celery
• Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves
• Pick the rosemary leaves, discard the stalks
• Heat a large pan on a medium heat
• Add a good lug of olive oil and onion, carrot, celery, garlic and most of the rosemary leaves
• Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened
• Turn the heat up, add the lamb mince, and brown for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Use a sieve or slotted spoon to drain away any excess liquid from the pan, then tip in the tinned tomatoes
• Pour in the stock, season with a good pinch of salt and pepper and stir well, then bring to the boil
• Reduce to a low heat, pop the lid on slightly ajar, and simmer for 1 hour

To make your mash topping
• Peel the potatoes, cut them into halves and quarters depending on their size, and put them into a pan of salted, boiling water
• Boil for about 10 minutes until tender
• Stick a knife into them to check they're soft all the way through
• Drain in a colander and return them to the pan
• Add the milk, butter and a pinch of salt and pepper
• Mash until smooth and creamy

To assemble and cook your shepherd's pie
• Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5
• Transfer the lamb mixture to a large ovenproof baking dish
• Spoon the mash evenly over the top and poke the remaining rosemary leaves into the top
• Drizzle with olive oil, then cook in the hot oven for 25 minutes, or until golden and bubbling
• Serve with broccoli (see Brilliant broccoli) or some lovely peas

See also:- 10 things you didn’t know about shepherd’s pie - Jamie Oliver | Features
- Jamie’s vegetarian shepherd’s pie: Jamie's Home Cooking Skills

OR:
- Super shepherd's pie | Jamie Oliver

OR - Italian cottage pie - with a different topping:
A crunchy topping of Parmesan-coated potatoes - like Potato dauphinoise!
Cook the potatoes in boiling, salted water for 10 mins until almost done.
Drain well then mix with the butter and half the Parmesan.
After the meat has cooked for its 1 ¾ hr turn the oven up to 220C,gas mark 7 and top with the cheesy potatoes, overlapping.
Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes until golden and crisp on top. Serve with a green salad.