Cottage Pie Recipe - Disney Recipes at Home!

Cottage Pie

Rose and Crown, United Kingdom Pavilion, Epcot

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Cottage pie is a classic item in British cuisine, appearing in cookbooks as early as the 18th century, as potatoes were first starting to appear as an affordable item for rural workers.  Of course, the dining room at Epcot's Rose and Crown had to include this authentic fare on their menu, and we decided to share the magical Disney version of this recipe here.

Now, we took a few shortcuts with our cottage pie, using packaged gravy (feel free to make your own gravy or use jarred gravy, it you prefer) and pre-made mashed potatoes.  Of course, making everything from scratch will be a bit better tasting, but for those in a hurry, this version of the recipe will work just fine.

Yield:

4-6 servings 

Ingredients

1. 1/4 cup butter
2. 1 cup diced onion
3. 1 cup diced carrot
4. 1 cup green peas*
5. 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
6. Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
7. 1/4 teaspoon ground savory**
8. 1 cup brown gravy
9. 2 cups mashed potatoes
10. Additional butter

*I added these, as I like peas in my cottage pie.  Leave 'em out if you want the 100% authentic Disney experience.
**If you can't find savory at your local store, sage or thyme make a good substitute.  We used thyme for ours and it came out just fine.

Directions

1. Dice your onions and carrots, setting them aside for later.

2. Heat 1/4 cup of butter in a nine inch skillet.  Make sure your skillet is large enough, as you will be putting quite a bit in it, and you want to make sure you have enough room for all of your ingredients to cook evenly.

3. Add your diced onions and cook until they are lightly browned, stirring frequently.

4. Add beef, salt, pepper, and savory, cooking until the meat is browned.

5. Add gravy and stir well, continue cooking until the gravy is bubbling.  You may want to incorporate your carrots now, if you'd like them to soften up a bit before baking.

6. Spoon the mixture into an 8-cup, flat casserole dish.

7. Spread the meat mixture out evenly.

8. Add your peas and carrots, if you didn't add them in the previous step.

9. Spread your mashed potatoes evenly over the top, covered all of the meat and vegetables thoroughly.

10. I still see some peas and carrots peeking through there....

11. Much better!  Now, dot the top with butter.

12. Bake in oven preheated to 400° for 20 minutes, or until browned on top.

13. Let sit for about five minutes, or, at least, as long as you can hold out without eating it...

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