Cottage Pie
Updated Feb. 22, 2025

- Total Time
- 2 hours
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour, 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
- 2pounds ground beef
- Salt and pepper
- 2tablespoons salted butter
- 1medium white or yellow onion, diced, about 1 cup
- 2celery stalks, finely chopped, about ½ cup
- 1medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped, about ½ cup
- 3garlic cloves, minced
- 2tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2cups beef broth
- ½cup dry red wine (or water)
- ½cup frozen peas
- 2tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 4thyme sprigs
- 2dried bay leaves
- Salt
- 2½pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- ½ cup whole milk
- 5tablespoons salted butter, melted
- ¾ cup grated Parmesan (about 1½ ounces)
For the Filling
For the Topping
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Step 2
Prepare the filling: Heat an ovenproof 12-inch skillet over medium. Add ground beef and a large pinch of salt and cook, breaking up the meat as you go, until slightly pink and just cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the ground beef to a bowl and set aside. Leave about a teaspoon of fat in the pan and discard the rest.
- Step 3
To the same skillet, add butter, onion, celery and carrot and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and the carrot is just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste, stirring to coat, about 1 minute. Add flour and stir to incorporate.
- Step 4
Add broth, red wine, peas, Worcestershire sauce, thyme sprigs, bay leaves and 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Stir to combine, then bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the consistency of thick gravy, 7 to 10 minutes. Taste and add extra seasoning, if needed. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs and stir in the ground beef. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
- Step 5
Make the topping: To a large saucepan, add 4 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until knife-tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and put back into the saucepan. Add the milk, 4 tablespoons butter and ½ cup grated Parmesan. Mash with a potato masher until just creamy, avoiding over-mashing. Taste and add salt if needed.
- Step 6
Dollop the mashed potatoes on top of the beef mixture in the skillet, carefully smoothing the mashed potatoes until it fully covers the beef mixture and reaches the edge of the pan. Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter over the top, sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup grated Parmesan and bake in the oven until golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
- If you do not have an oven-proof skillet, you can transfer beef mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish for assembly and baking.
Private Notes
FAQS
Comments
I’m sure this is probably heresy, but if I’m making this on a week night, I just use the mashed potatoes that are in a refrigerated section of the grocery store.
A splash of Cognac in the gravy is incredible.
Grated white cheddar instead of parm is traditional.
I would double to vegetables in this recipe, two cups of frozen peas or mix veg would be great. Two pounds of beef seemed like way too much, 1-1.5 would do it.
Add mushrooms, sauteed until almost carmelized. A touch of cayenne, not to make it hot, just to perk up the other spices. For a change, use curried mashed sweet potatoes on top.
WAAAAY back in the '60's and '70's, my Mom did a super-speedy canned version of this in a cast iron skillet - hamburger, drained green beans, onion, a can of tomato soup (heresy!), then the mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese. It was one of our favorite winter comfort foods. It's nice to see a more "classed up" version of my old favorite here. Next winter, I'll go with this version and see which one I prefer!