Great! I used frozen mixed vegetables instead of green peas and added canned tomato soup to the beef because it seemed dry. Easy, straightforward comfort food.
For variation: Lightly saute fresh mushrooms, onion and garlic in olive oil. Add ground beef until just brown. Drain. Add jar beef gravy and Worcester sauce to taste. Mix well. Spoon into 9" square baking dish. Cover with prepared mashed potatoes. Ring top with baby carrots. Brush with beaten egg. Bake at 350 until bubbly. Enjoy.
This was easy & tastey. The only thing I changed was the sugar&ketchup sauce went on the top. The leftovers made for awesome sandwiches the next day. Thanks!
Wonderful cottage pie, reminds me of the meals I had in my British school's canteen. I followed the recipe for everything except the green peas coz I do not have them on hand. I use a bigger onion instead. I forgot to dot extra butter on top, but it still came out crisp with adequately brown. Next time, I will try other's suggestion of using some ketchup to make the source. My kids love it and it's definitely a keeper.
Superb basic recipe that leaves lots of room for customization. I will use this recipe again, but I look forward to adding my own spin such as more meat, gravy, etc.
I did spice it up with some extra garlic salt...i used italian spices instead of the herbs de provence and i used instant potatoes to help with time. I used frozen peas...and they cooked just fine...came out done as expected. And to make it all perfect i added shredded cheese on top. My husband and i really liked it. This is a yummy yummy comfort food!
I think that this is a great base recipe to start with! I added a few things to tailor the recipe to my family's personal tastes and it turned out great. ADDED: About 1/2C - 3/4C of sliced mushrooms sauteed in just a bit of bacon drippings w/ 1 clove of minced garlic. About 1/2C - 3/4C of whole kernel canned corn. A few splashes (2-3Tbsp maybe) Worcestershire sauce. Several extra cloves of minced garlic! Several generous shakes of garlic salt & onion powder. (No plain salt added.) Maybe 2Tbsp of ketchup - not much just enough to add a little extra moisture/flavor. A generous handful of mild cheddar cheese on top of the potato crust. It turned out so tasty! I think that that little extra burst of flavor from the handful of mild cheddar on top REALLY added a lot! I was unsure of the addition of nutmeg - it just seemed odd - but after tasting the finished product will definitely do so again. I will certainly be making this dish in the future and am looking forward to trying out new flavor combinations! Thanks KMOMMYZ!
We made it pretty much as outlined and it was perfect. I did not have the herbes de Provence so used Thyme and Basil (dried). The nutmeg is a very important ingredient. I cooked the peas quickly in the microwave before putting in the pie as someone had mentioned theirs were not done. Ours were perfectly cooked this way. The potatoes were great!!! I used ground sirloin and I added a tiny bit of bisto to it not much though don' think anyone would notice it not being there but you could put in some salt instead. (not much)
Very Tastey and Easy!! I did make some changes to the recipe. Trying to get my family to eat veggies is hard so I added a can of corn. I used canned veggies because that's what I had. 2 cans of peas and 1 corn. Also added Sharp cheddar cheese to the top of the potatoes then added the extra butter on top as the last step. It made this delightful cheese crust. To Die for!! So simple and good.
Three stars because there is no cream of XXX soup, but that might have been the best part of this recipe. I too found it to be very bland and a little dry. May try again and deviate from the recipe.
