The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (31 page)

Breadcrumb top
Replace the potatoes with a crunchy layer of Flavoured Breadcrumbs (see
page 49
). Sprinkle this over the top of the dish, rather as you would a crumble mixture, then bake in the usual way until the topping is bubbling and browning. Serve with nutty brown rice, roasted cherry tomatoes or wilted greens.

My mum swears that cottage pie uses lamb and shepherd’s uses beef, which seems counterintuitive to me – but the world seems divided on the issue and I don’t care much either way.

I don’t think I’m alone in preferring fresh meat to leftovers as a general rule in this pie – but it’s still a great way of using up cooked meat, and it scores high on the granny-approval radar. Unless you have a mincer, preparation will mean a bit of careful knife work or the use of an electric chopper or food processor to pulse, so that the meat doesn’t end up as a paste.

Some people like to add chopped carrot and/or celery to the meat and, frankly, you can include any vegetable you like, though I would be inclined to serve peas separately rather than adding them to the pie because they tend to toughen and lose their vibrant green.

These quantities will make a small pie for 2, so if you have much more meat available, just scale everything up.

Serves 2

a little butter or oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, cut into small dice

1 garlic clove, crushed

200-250g leftover beef or lamb, trimmed of all fat and sinew and finely minced

400g can of chopped tomatoes, lightly drained of their juice

1 tablespoon tomato purée

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

300g floury potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed with a knob of butter, or 2 teacups leftover mash

salt and pepper

Heat a little butter or oil in a pan, and add the onion, carrots and garlic. Cook gently until softened.

Add the meat and stir well.

Add the tomatoes, purée and Worcestershire sauce. Let the mixture bubble languidly for about 30 minutes, until the sauce has thickened, then season to taste. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.

Transfer the mixture to a baking dish. Top evenly with the mashed potato, dot with a little butter and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the potato is browning and the meat is bubbling.

Leeks
Cook some finely sliced leeks in butter until softened and fork them through the mash before it goes on top of the dish.

Dauphinoise top
Replace the mash with very finely sliced raw potato – a mandolin is helpful here for slicing the potato evenly. Rinse and drain the potato slices, then arrange in an overlapping layer all over the meat mixture. Season, drizzle olive oil over the potato and bake until the meat is bubbling and the potato is tender, crisping slightly on top.

Celeriac mash
Use half the amount of mashed potato and mix with an equal quantity of mashed celeriac. Celeriac holds a lot of water when it is boiled, so drain it really well. It’s also harder to mash smoothly – a mouli-légumes or potato ricer is handy here if you have one.