I had read a thread in the Lounge that talked about Cottage Pie. I googled recipes and printed one out, but it turned out too runny. My children just returned from England and loved the cottage pie they had there. Does someone have a good recipe that I could surprise them with?

Hi
Cottage pie is made with beef, Shepherds pie with lamb, (usually mince). However, the best pie I've made is from The Ivy restaurant's website. They call it Shepherds pie but it has both beef and lamb in it! Here's the link -
www.the-ivy.co.uk/index.asp?area=49&id=50
The flour should thicken it up nicely.
Best served with a good dollop of HP sauce!

I find the meat can get a bit too wet when it's being prepared, either because the damn supermarket's bulked it out with additional water, or if it's cooked with, say, mushrooms.

Likewise, it helps to make sure any excess liquid is poured away from the potatoes before they're mashed - they shouldn't be creamed or "duchesse" style, a degree of lumpiness is all part of the experience (and don't forget to make patterns with a fork before the pie goes into the oven, to make sure there's some nice crispy bits on the ridges).

Thanks Morgana and Patrick! I now see that my meat was too fatty and potatoes too creamy. The recipe you sent Morgana said to serve with mashed neeps. What is that?

neeps are rutabaga. I always brown the meat and drain it before continuing.

"Neeps" is a Scottish word for turnips. Having them with shepherd's pie is a horrible idea, in my view - traditionally mashed turnips accompany haggis in Scotland, but that works because haggis is peppery and you need something bland. You don't need that when you've already got mashed potato.

Any green veg would so with a shepherd's/cottage pie. If it's shepherd's pie with lamb, try peas or carrots; if it's cottage pie with beef, try Savoy cabbage. Or indeed you could put some veg into it - say, a few spinach leaves or shreds of cabbage into the mash, some peas or diced carrots into the meat mixture. I quite like putting in both diced carrot and red pepper (ours are rather bland, even sweetish, rather than spicy/chilli types). It's a very versatile concept.

I recall a Shepherd's pie I had in a rather nice restaurant near Ross on Wye, called The Millrace.
The pie was absolutely gorgeous and was flying out of the kitchens. And it had........a layer of mozarella cheese between the meat and the potato topping!
www.millrace.info/wb/
With my home cooked shepherds pie I like to serve some frozen Findus petit pois - pure comfort food. I gather kale is the latest in trendy veg though.

My Scottish husband calls swedes neeps.
Turnips are much smaller.

The pie with cheese on top is Cumberland pie.
I've never come across a layer of cheese under the potato.
To most people cottage/shepherd's pie is a traditional way to use up the Sunday roast.
You just mince up the leftovers, add a bit of gravy and leftover vegetables and put some mashed potato on top,

If you brush the mashed potatoes with beaten egg then make lines with a fork the top will be brown & crispy, you can also put it under the broiler/aka in uk grill.

Rutabaga=swedes=yellow turnip..in the US what you call them depends on the area you come from!

I take it back, swede it is. But I still hate them.

Oh Patrick, try cooking them with a few carrots and mash them up together. My DH hated them until I did them with the carrots.

Life's too short - same as for marrows.

I'll agree with you on the marrows!

Ok, are you guys talking about vegetable marrow or bone marrow? And if it's vegetable marrow, what really is that?

A marrow is a giant courgette (zucchini in American?)

They have even less taste than normal courgettes and are a bit mealy.

A marrow is a sort of squash. Put on this earth for people to have competitions in growing the biggest one. They used to be force fed to British school children in the form of school dinners.
My cottage pie has diced carrots and onions in it with the minced beef, which is always dry fried and drained first, to get rid of the excess fat and gunk. An Oxo cube or two, and lashings of Worcestershire sauce are also essential ingredients. I never use flour to thicken it, just don't add too much liquid in the first place.
Mashed potato should be that - mashed not creamed. Bung it in a hot oven so the potato gets nice and crispy. No need for beaten egg or grilling it.