Italian Cottage Pie

There is currently a strike happening across Venice meaning that this weekend there is a shortage of food here. The supermarkets are looking pretty bare at the moment and there is practically no meat left to buy. Nightmare for cooking blogs...We had a friend of ours over for dinner the other day and I had promised Sarah a cottage pie, although when I went to buy some mince there was none left so I took a leaf out of my Head Chef's book (Darren from work) and decided to use beef steak instead and I actually think I prefer it this way.

The cottage pie in the picture is different shades because Sarah doesn't eat cheese, so I left one section of it free for her. The cheese is optional but I reckon it makes the mashed potato taste soooo much better.

Serves 6
Ingredients:
6-8 Large Potatoes (Peeled and chopped into small chunks)
1 Large Onion (Diced)
1 Clove Garlic (Finely Chopped)
350g Beef Steak (Chopped into small chunks) or 500g Lean Mince
1 Pack Bacon Lardons
500ml Red Wine
1 Veg/Beef Stock Cube
500ml Boiling Water
Salt, Pepper, Oregano
1 tbsp Tomato Purée
5 Large Carrots (Diced)
Handful of Cheddar Cheese & Handful of Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 200 Degrees.

Place a pan of water on to boil and add the potatoes and leave until soft. Take the boiling water and add the stock cube, a pinch of salt, pepper and oregano. Stir in the tomato purée and leave to the side to make a stock.

Fry the onions and the garlic in a little olive oil in a large frying pan until soft. Add the beef and the lardons and fry until browned. Add the red wine and leave to simmer on a medium heat for 15 minutes. Add in the stock and the chopped carrots and leave to simmer for a further 20-25 minutes on a low heat. While that is cooking, mash the potatoes with a dash of milk until smooth (not that I can ever make mash without lumps in, I don't have the patience)

Then layer the meat sauce into the bottom of a baking dish and then top with the mash potato. Spread the potato evenly across the meat and then gently press a fork across the potato to create ridges (this will make it more crispy) then top with both the cheddar and the parmesan. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Serve with some green veg or salad, we had courgettes!

The bacon really adds to the flavour of the dish - as does the red wine, making it taste a lot better than a standard cottage pie. Also the beef steak gets really tender when cooked for a long time which makes quite the difference if you'd like to have a break from plain mince.