Cottage Pie

It finally feels like fall is here!  After last week's rainy and muggy weather, I was happy to wake up on Sunday to the cool crisp air that is a sure sign of autumn.  This beautiful seasonal weather inspired me to dig through my recipe binder for some colder weather dishes.  I let Bret choose from my huge stack of potential fall recipes and we finally fell upon a Cottage Pie recipe that I clipped from Everyday Food last fall.

First, I gathered my ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons salted butter, melted (original recipe calls for unsalted butter)
• 1 large yellow onion, diced medium
• 2 large carrots, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• Coarse salt and fresh-cracked pepper
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1.05 pounds ground beef (80% lean)
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 cup dark (porter) beer
• 3/4 cup frozen peas
• 2 medium russet potatoes, very thinly sliced (original recipe calls for one large russet potato)

I got to work prepping my ingredients - the yellow onion, carrots, thyme leaves and potatoes. 

Bret helped me out with the potatoes by using our mandolin.

I then pre-heated the oven to 400 degrees.  I warmed up my Dutch oven over medium-high heat and added a tablespoon of butter.  I added the onions and carrots to the pot.  I cooked these vegetables for about five minutes, until the onion began to soften.

I seasoned the onions and carrots with salt and pepper.  I also stirred in the tomato paste.  I then added in the ground beef and used a spoon to break up the meat while it was cooking.  I cooked the beef until it was almost completely cooked through. 

I added the thyme and beer to the mixture and brought the beer to a boil.

I continued to let the beef and vegetables cook for about two minutes and kept stirring everything frequently. 

I added a cup of water to the pot and cooked the mixture for another few minutes until everything began to thicken.  I then stirred in the frozen peas and seasoned the mixture again with salt and pepper.

I then ladled the entire mixture into a roasting dish which I had given a quick spray with baking spray.

I topped the mixture with potato slices, and made sure that the slices overlapped. 

I seasoned the potatoes with salt and pepper, and also drizzled the potatoes with the remaining two tablespoons of butter.

The recipe recommends baking the cottage pie for about 40 to 45 minutes.  I'm still getting used to my new oven so I tenatively baked the cottage pie for about 30 minutes.  When I opened the oven, I saw that a lot of the liquid from the meat mixture had seeped through the thin layer of potatoes.  I decide to cook down some of the liquid by baking the cottage pie for another 15 minutes at 300 degrees.  After the cottage pie was done baking, I broiled it for another 5 minutes on low.

I cooled the cottage pie for about ten minutes before serving.  This definitely did the trick as the cottage pie ended up having a nice crispy layer of browned potatoes.

I've never had a cottage pie before but it seemed like a mix between beef stew and shepherd's pie.  I surprisingly found the cottage pie was a little underseasoned and added a sprinkle of salt on my plate before digging in.  Still, this was the perfect dish for a cool Sunday evening with a bottle of pumpkin beer.

I'm also really looking forward to enjoying some of the leftovers for lunch today!

Tell me, have you started making any cold weather dishes now that fall is here?