Mr M and I collaborated on tonights meal, in order to get it ready before our friends arrived for dinner. I love traditional favourites, especially when I get to add my own twist to them. I also love big sharing dishes, making cottage pie for 2 is not as gratifying as for 4 and feeding 8 well thats perfect! Except for the potato peeling part!
So we peeled enough potatoes to cover our dish (6 portions as we like leftovers). These were boiled and then mashed with lots of butter, seasoning and a little milk. This was put aside until the meat mix was ready.
I softened onions and then browned plenty of beef mince. I seasoned the meat and onions, added half a tin of tomatoes, lots of mustard and then some gravy granules and hot water. The gravy granules are a bit of a cheat but a good way to make sure that you have nice thick beefy sauce. Gravy alone would be a little bit bland, so I spiced things up with alot of worcestershire sauce and a few black cardamom pods.
Mince was covered in a blanket of potatoes and then cooked for 40 minutes until the potatoes were crunchy and golden. Served with lots of broccoli and carrots, delish. We enjoyed this and so did our friends.
Pudding was a summer fruit crumble, with juicy, tangy berries and an almond, oaty, slightly toffeeish top. A belly stretching dinner that Mr M gave a 7.5,
magpiesinthekitchen 