From the apple and pumpkin pies that all the time grace my household’s Thanksgiving desk to savory choices like pizza or pot pie, I really like pie each which approach. In reality, even with combos I don’t predict I’m going to adore (I’m you, bitter cream and raisin!), I find yourself loving them after they’re served by the slice.
Recently, I’ve been diving deep into classic recipes by dwelling cooks and celebrities alike. So far, I’ve been blown away by the outcomes of creations corresponding to Lima Bean Mush and Apple Goodie. With consolation meals season in full swing, I noticed it has been some time since I attempted a brand new pie. So once I stumbled upon Angela Lansbury’s cottage pie recipe, I knew I wanted so as to add it to my meal plan ASAP.
What Is Cottage Pie?
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Cottage pie is extraordinarily just like its savory casserole cousin: shepherd’s pie. The predominant distinction is the meat used. Cottage pie requires floor beef, and shepherd’s pie requires floor lamb.
To make both savory pie, you’ll brown the bottom meat, then mix it with greens, corresponding to onions, peas, carrots, and infrequently tomatoes or tomato paste. Add broth or wine to create a sauce, switch this to a baking dish, then prime the savory filling with mashed potatoes or thinly-sliced and layered potatoes. Bake till golden-brown and bubbly.
Our Easy English Cottage Pie will get a thumbs up as being “fairly genuine” from a house prepare dinner from England. And Lansbury’s rendition is simply too, based on movie archivist Jenny Hammerton, writer of the delightfully-named Substack “Murder, She Cooked” and cookbook by the identical identify, which is the place I discovered this recipe. However, Lansbury, aka Jessica Fletcher for all you ’80s whodunit followers, initially dished up this recipe within the 1997 “Murder She Wrote” cookbook, which options greater than 350 recipes from the long-lasting present’s forged and crew.
Hammerton says that if we solely have time to make one Angela Lansbury recipe, this cottage pie should be it. “It’s consolation meals at its best,” Hammerton explains. With these glowing critiques, and understanding my penchant for pie, I gathered the elements, tied on my apron, and began assembling this cottagecore creation.
Angela Lansbury’s Cottage Pie
The course of for making Angela Lansbury’s cottage pie takes a while, true. But it doesn’t contain any fancy methods and requires reasonably priced fridge and pantry staples corresponding to floor beef, butter, hen broth, and potatoes. With a pair episodes of your favourite drama taking part in within the background, constructing this cottage would possibly even really feel a bit enjoyable—and savoring the completed product might be much more so.
With its hearty, beef-and-veggie base topped with creamy nutmeg-scented mashed potatoes, one chunk was all it took to persuade me that that is amongst my new favourite methods to make use of a bundle of floor beef. The leeks lend a beautiful further dose of refined onion taste, and I am keen on the truth that the sauce requires a pair elements I all the time have in my pantry: hen broth and tomato purée.
In reality, any time I’ve further mashed potatoes from a takeout meal or final night time’s leftovers, I’ll plan to switch a pair kilos of floor beef from the freezer to the fridge so I can whip up Lansbury’s consolation meals masterpiece once more.
Tips for Making Angela Lansbury’s Cottage Pie
After attending to the underside of the thriller—after which the baking dish as soon as I completed my beneficiant serving—I’ve a couple of options and concepts that you may want to remember for those who do this pie:
- Half it. Lansbury estimates that her recipe serves eight, however because it begins with 4 kilos of floor beef, I’d approximate 16 servings right here. For my trial, I trimmed all the portions in half and baked it in a single 8.5 x 11-inch baking dish (as an alternative of an 11 x 17-inch pan). Of course, for those who’re feeding a crowd, be happy to comply with Lansbury’s lead precisely.
- Drain it. This cottage pie recipe begins like many others: browning floor beef. Lansbury suggests draining the bottom beef crumbles earlier than including butter to a unique skillet to sauté the chopped onions, carrots, leeks, and celery. If you want, it can save you a while and butter—and layer on much more taste—through the use of the meat drippings as your cooking fats.
- Don’t delay the peas. Lansbury’s instructions point out baking the meat, sauce, and durable veggies for quarter-hour earlier than stirring in a pair handfuls of inexperienced peas. Regardless of whether or not you employ contemporary or frozen, you ought to be OK to combine them into the filling as you add the seasonings—simply earlier than pouring the combination into your baking dish. This approach, you’ll be able to bake all of it collectively for quarter-hour, prime with the mashed potatoes, and bake for the ultimate 35 to 45 minutes.
- Spiff up your sauce. Chicken broth and tomato pureé star within the unique system. Beef broth, mushroom broth, or vegetable broth would additionally play properly with this recipe. For further complexity, take into account changing 1/4 cup of the broth with crimson wine.
- Mix up your meat. It won’t technically qualify as a “cottage,” however you might have our full permission to swap in floor turkey, hen, pork, lamb, or a plant-based meat various for those who choose. Hey, Jessica Fletcher wrote thriller novels, and you’ll write your individual story right here, too.
