Well, at least I have an unstoppable umbrella…
Ah no, in fairness, it’s actually been lovely here for the last three days. And I thank you weathermen-and-ladies for that. But today was the type of day in which the mother of all comfort food, Cottage Pie, could really shine.
Niall’s lovely granny Carmel gave me a little Jamie Oliver Red Nose Day Recipes cookbook that she had picked up a while back. This had coincided with Niall and I paying a visit to the Kildare Village Shopping Outlet place, just off the M7 about 40 minutes outside Dublin. This is where Le Creuset have an outlet shop. You can imagine my absolute glee spending half an hour perusing the shop. If you want to buy some Le Creuset gear, this is where to go. Everything is around 20% to 30% cheaper than in normal shops.
I got these two little beauties for €20 each.
The pie dish was marked down from €33 and the souffle dish was marked down from €31.50 I think. So, pretty good value. If you’re around the Kildare area, pop in and have a look yourself. The other shops there were of no interest to me but that’s just how I roll. As I’ve said before, Le Creuset pots are my version of a Ralph Lauren cashmere jumper. There you are now.
What you need for Jamie Oliver’s Cottage Pie for 4
Swedes. Kinda funny lookin’.
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1/4 of a small swede, peeled and diced
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
500g minced beef
salt n peppa
250ml beef stock
100g frozen peas (again, I forgot all about the peas! The end result was still yum but the peas would have been great)
1 kg potatoes, peeled and chopped into even-sized pieces
75g butter
Heat a large saucepan over a medium heat with a good bit of olive oil. Add the onion, carrots, swede, parsnips, one of the rosemary sprigs and the two bay leaves. Cook gently with the lid on until soft. Add more olive oil after five minutes of slowly cooking if you feel you should.
Turn the heat up and crumble in the mince, frying until lightly browned. Whack in a good bit of salt n peppa, add the stock and bring to the boil. Turn the heat back down to medium and simmer for half an hour before stirring in the peas. Egad, I totally forgot the peas.
At this point, you can preheat your oven to 180 degrees C or gas mark 4.
Put on your spuds, boiling for 15 or 20 minutes (or until they’re tender) in salted water. Once they’re done, drain them and mash them in a big bowl with the butter and a bit of salt n peppa. I also added a bit of cream which I had left over. The result was powerful. Powerful mash. The Daily Spud would’ve been proud!
At this point, your beef and veg will be ready so you can remove the rosemary and bay leaves and tip it all into a pie dish or baking tray. Cover everything with the mash.
I had lots of fun making the fork lines in the mash like my mamma used to do. And, obviously, everybody else’s mamma used to do/still does! I just remember thinking it was really cool that my mum did that, like she’d invented it or something.
Then I grated some parmesan cheese over the top but you could use cheddar too. As far as I know, this helps the whole browning process, which looks swell.
Break off your second rosemary sprig into little pieces and lightly coat them in olive oil, as this will stop them from burning. Pop them into the top of the potato mash and bake them in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
Serve with some (optional) London Pride Ale and suddenly the rainy night outside turns rather cosy. Beautiful. Thanks again Jamie, you’re a bleedin’ genius!
Get into my belly, post-haste.
MP3
As I was cooking, we were listening to The Hype Machine radio. The Hype Machine is one of mine and Niall’s favourite websites, as it collects all the mp3s posted on some of the best music blogs around the world. We’re also very happy to be able to count the head honcho of the site as one of our buddies.
If you’re looking for a track to download, or want more information about a track or artist that you’ve heard and liked, head to The Hype Machine and type it into the search box. What will come up are links to a variety of music blogs that have mentioned said track or artist. It’s excellent.
The Hype Machine Radio is broadcasting in the form of a weekly podcast, but no doubt it’ll be syndicated across the globe soon enough as it’s proper decent. Below is the link to the latest installment, featuring round-ups of the most talked about tracks on the blogosphere as well as some great Swedish music taken from the US blog Swedes Please. Seeing as I was dicing swedes at the time, I thought that was pretty relevant. Oh, lol.
Categories: Dinner Tags: Cottage Pie
May 13, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I should have thought of this last week … we had six straight days of pouring rain. Cottage pie is perfect for such a night. You’re looks absolutely divine and I’m loving the powerful mash. Yum! Oh, love that fancy umbrella too!
May 13, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Thanks Diva – it’s the only thing for it when the weather is miserable. It instantly cheers you up. Took a bit of time in the making, probably around 1 hour and 45 minutes with the chopping and simmering and all, but it was very satisfying and not even a teeny bit stressful.
I’d be lost without my red brolly, really would
May 13, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Ha ha great photo! Glum but cheerful all at once!
May 14, 2009 at 7:58 am
Of course I’m proud, very proud – that’s a grand lookin’ bit of mash you have gracing the lovely le creuset. I’m on my jollydays in Seattle and it’s been bucketing all day here as well, though the food hereabouts does a good job of making up for that too!
May 14, 2009 at 8:06 am
I have pot and umbrella envy – both at one
and some pie envy thrown in there too!
May 14, 2009 at 10:18 am
The fella brought me shopping in Le Creuset Kildare Village for my birthday, I thought it was fierce romantic.
Definitely giving that cottage pie a lash, looks like just the thing for this manky weather!
May 14, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Hi Narocroc – glad you like the pic! The brolly is so bright it does cheer me up, I have to say.
Spud! I’m suffering from cyberspatial blushing. I’m so glad I made you proud with my mash. I saw on your twitter that you were away somewhere but couldn’t guess where. I’m sorry to say that I’m glad to hear it’s raining over there, on a purely selfish level. Hope you’re having a great time and that the weather picks up!
Lola-Lu – tee hee!
Catherine – he’s a keeper! It’s very good value, really. Honestly, the pie was very easy to make, just exactly as the recipe says. It just takes a bit of time to cook as I said to Diva above, about 1 hour and 45 minutes, but totally stress free. It was delicious last night and lovely for lunch again today!
May 17, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Oh, it looks like the first spring grass peeping up from the snow! Yum–peas or no peas.
May 18, 2009 at 8:53 am
Gah, you’re killing me with all this gorgeous Le Creuset! I’m going to have to gear myself up for a trip to Kildare Village and no mishtake… Oh and loving the brolly! x
May 19, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Hi Pastry Chef – thanks! It worked without the peas but I think they would have been really nice.
Hi English Mum – I know this will sound weird because we’ve never met but I was actually thinking about you when I was in the shop in Kildare! I was like, I wonder if English Mum knows about this place?! They have loads of little things as well as the big investment pots, like they have loads of gadgets and aprons and hot pot mat thingys and loads of other stuff. It’s lovely. Let me know how you get on when you head down there!
May 19, 2009 at 9:34 pm
oh yum! looks delicious! I used to live but a few minutes from Kildare Village, but lived in a house with a crappy kitchen (and weird housemates prone to using my griddle pan and leaving it unwashed….) so used to gaze longingly at le Creuset stuff but never bought. Fool am I!
Did you ever try cottage pie with sweet potatoes? Might try that some day!
)
(BTW, if you like sweet potatoes at all, try these: http://www.aspoonfulofsugar.net/wp/2009/01/sweet-potato-falafel-wraps-leon/ they take aaaaaaaaaaaages to make (1hr cooking, then 1hr chilling, then 20mins cooking again!) but by holy God are they UNREAL and super tasty. They’re super healthy too. I usually whip up enough for two days and they always go down a treat. Think you’d love em
May 20, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Hi Aoife – the le creuset shop is great, shame you couldn’t take more advantage out of it
That cottage spy looks great and I will TOTALLY be trying those sweet potato wraps asap!! Thanks for the tip, m’lady!
May 26, 2009 at 11:49 am
you’re welcome!
let me know how you get on, a good tip is to make them into small patties about 1/2 inch or less thick, I spray them with oil spray so they’re well covered and then turn once. Oh and sweet chilli sauce with them is a must 
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