Cottage Pie

For me, this recipe is absolute comfort food. Potatoes, ground meat, bacon... mmmm. Sorry vegetarians, this one is not for you (but if you wanted to make the jump back to carnivore-land, this might be a good recipe to try!).  Even though it is summer right now, I can already visualize making this on a cold, rainy day, then curling up on the couch with a nice glass of red wine and a big bowl of hot-from-the-oven cottage pie. Have I mentioned "mmmm" yet?

The original recipe comes from a great cookbook a friend brought back from London, called "Easy British Cooking", edited by Celine Hughes. I made quite a few adaptations, while trying to keep the nature of cottage pie intact. I will list those changes at the bottom of this for you to peruse and perhaps try.

All I really have to say about this recipe is: Happy Cooking! Happy Baking! Happy Eating!

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs olive oil 
• 1 large onion, chopped 
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped 
• 1.5#  ground turkey 
• 3 pieces of bacon, chopped into pieces 
• 1/4 cup dry white wine 
• 1 heaping tsp dry parsley 
• 1/2 tsp dry thyme 
• 2 Tbs tomato paste 
• coarsely ground sea salt & black pepper (to taste)

• 2 large potatoes, peeled & chopped 
• 1 bay leaf 
• 1/4 cup milk (I used rice milk, any low fat milk should work) 
• 3 Tbs butter (I used butter substitute) 

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. 
2. Start by making the mashed potatoes - bring water, bay leaf and chopped potatoes to a boil in a sauce pan. Cook until tender, then drain and remove the bay leaf. 
3. Place the cooked potatoes in a large bowl, coarsely mash by hand. Add in the butter, then milk; mix until your desired consistency is reached. (For creamier mashed potatoes use an electric hand blender/whisk.)
4. While the potatoes are boiling - heat the olive oil over medium heat in a frying pain. Add the onions and cook until browned (3-5 minutes). 
5. Add the garlic, ground turkey and bacon - cook until the meat is almost completely browned. 
6. Add the wine to the frying pan - cook until evaporated (adjust the heat as needed). 
7. Stir in the parsley, thyme, tomato paste, salt & pepper.
8. In a medium-sized casserole dish spread the meat mixture over the bottom and level with a spoon. Cover the meat mixture with the mashed potatoes. 
9. Bake until the potatoes are golden brown on top, about 25-30 minutes. 

Serves: 4 large portions

Cook time: About 1 hour and 30 minutes (includes all the prep time, boiling potatoes, and baking the casserole in the oven) 

Adaptations 

• Olive oil - original recipe called for 2 Tbs butter to brown the onions and meat 
• Ground turkey - original recipe called for ground beef 
• Bacon - original recipe called for 5-6 pieces of bacon 
• Cheddar cheese - original recipe called for 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese to be sprinkled over the casserole before it went into the oven - I omitted this altogether 
• Milk - original recipe called for whole milk in the mashed potatoes