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Pie is a staple English food that has been around since medieval times.  English food is often, quite wrongly deemed unadventurous, uninspiring, greasy and boring.  The culinary experts who have credited England with this misguided appraisal of our kitchen have obviously never experienced the delights of the plethora of pies, pasties, stews and desserts we are famous for.

We make 2 kinds of pie:  one with a pastry casing, and the other which is typically topped with some kind of potato - whether it be mashed, or thinly sliced.  I am not the worlds greatest pastry afficionado, though I have dabbled with lard-based short pastries with some success before.  I prefer a nice topping of fluffy potato, crisped on the top in the oven, yielding a tasty, gravy-bound meat filling.  I made a cottage pie (with beef, as opposed to shepherds pie with lamb) 2 nights ago and it has graced our plates for 2 nights running.  We didn't have quite enough to meet our stomachs expectations last night, so I eked it out with a small portion of chips to compliment the side of steamed peas and sweetcorn.

 Cottage Pie

•   Sweat 2 finely diced, medium onions and 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves in a pan with some olive oil until they have softened.
•  During this time, peel 5 medium sized potatoes and 3 carrots.  Slice the carrots and dice the potatoes.  Cook them in salted water until tender.  Then mash and set aside.
•  When the onions are softened, add 500g of decent steak mince.  Cook until it is nicely browned.
•  Add a heaped teaspoon of plain flour.  Stir to mix and cook the gloopy mixture for a minute.
•  Squeeze a heady dollop of tomato puree in, and mix thoroughly.
•  Add 1 bay leaf.
•  Add a slug or 4 of Worcester sauce.  Stir to mix.
•  Add approximately 250ml of stock (beef is best, or chicken) until you have a thick consistency (not a soup).
•  Check the seasoning, usually I add a lot of pepper and not so much salt (especially if you have used a stock cube).
•  Cook for 15-20 minutes.
•  Allow the mixture to cool.  When it has, spoon the mashed potato and carrot over the top.  Fork the top so you have a ridged pattern.  Dot with butter.
•  In an oven preheated to 160C, add the pie and cook until the top is crusty and golden (about 30-40 mins). 

In my opinion, you can happily exchange the beef out and use minced lamb with this recipe to create a shepherds pie.  I would, though, be vigilant during the frying of the lamb mince as it quite often yields surprising amounts of fat.  I would spoon out all but 1 tablespoon of the lamb fat.