Baby Cottage Pies

On Tuesday, I had to work in the evening and while the oven was on, after baking a batch of biscuits, I thought I’d better make good use of it and get dinner on. I had mince defrosted but wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it. I’m always thinking of food that ‘the kids’ will eat because I get tired of serving them chicken nuggets one night and fish fingers the next. (Trouble is, they don’t seem to mind that.) I thought about individual Cottage Pies but with a pastry bottom so they could be easily taken out of the patty pan tin and popped in the freezer. (And besides, the husband prefers a pastry bottom on his Cottage Pie.)

I also didn’t know if I should be calling them “Cottage Pies” or “Shepherd’s Pies”. As far as I knew, “Shepherd’s Pie” is usually made from lamb or mutton. I can remember, as a young girl, Mum mincing up the leftover roast lamb always for a Shepherd’s Pie. She also made a beautiful shortcrust pastry bottom, made with lard. Mmmmmmm! She used one of those old fashioned hand mincers that attached to the table. I wonder if she’s still got it. I’d love to get my hands on it, for prosperity. Myself and my two sisters always used to love mincing the meat with the old mixer.

What Wikipedia says about Cottage pies:

Cottage pie refers to a British or Irish meat pie made with beef mince and with a crust made from mashed potato. A variation on this dish is known as shepherd’s pie.
The term cottage pie is known to have been in use in 1791, when the potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor (cf. “cottage” meaning a modest dwelling for rural workers).
In early cookery books, the dish was a means of using leftover roasted meat of any kind, and the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top. The term “shepherd’s pie” did not appear until the 1870s, and since then it has been used synonymously with “cottage pie”, regardless of whether the principal ingredient was beef or mutton. There is now a popular tendency for “shepherd’s pie” to be used when the meat is mutton or lamb, with the suggested origin being that shepherds are concerned with sheep and not cattle. This may, however, be an example of folk etymology.

Baby Cottage Pies

300gm beef mince (or whatever meat you like)
oil for frying
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 zucchini, grated
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbs gravy powder
1/2 cup water
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs tomato sauce
salt & pepper

Potato topping:
3 medium potatoes
2 tbs butter and milk for mashing

frozen puff pastry

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Boil potatoes until tender and mash with butter and milk. Brown onion in oil then add mince and cook until brown. Add grated vegetables, sauces, gravy powder, water and seasoning. Cook until thickened. Allow to cool. Line cupcake pan with circles of pastry. Spoon mince mixture into pastry and top with mashed potato. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 18 small pies. One large pie could be made with this recipe as well. Recipe is suitable to freeze.

My kids didn’t eat them. The boy did like the look of them, that is until he saw a pea and my daughter wouldn’t touch them. Hubby and I enjoyed them. Don’t forget the good slurp of tomato sauce.