Half Vegan Cottage Pie

Cottage pie is beef; shepherd’s pie is lamb. This version swaps about half the ground beef for cooked lentils. The sauce carries most of the flavor anyway, so the lentils barely change the eating experience.

Overview

• Serves 4–6
• About 1.5 hrs including baking

Ingredients

Filling

• 400g ground beef (80/20)
• 150g dried brown or green lentils, cooked (or 400g canned, drained)
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce (optional, but not really optional)
• 300ml beef stock, good quality
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 thyme sprigs
• 60ml red wine (optional)
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Mash Topping

• 1kg starchy potatoes (Maris Piper or russet), peeled
• 60g butter, plus extra for topping
• 110ml whole milk, warm
• 1 or 2 egg yolks (optional, for a browner crust)

Technique

Filling

1. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high. Brown the beef well, breaking it up with a spoon. Remove and set aside, leaving the fat in the pan.
2. In the same pan, cook the onion, carrots and celery over medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, dump the cooked lentils / canned lentils, Worcestershire, bay leaf and thyme in with the browned beef for later.
4. Add a fresh ground black pepper until your wrist is sore and also garlic and cook 1 minute more. Stir in the tomato paste and cook 1–2 minutes until it darkens slightly.
5. Deglaze with the red wine, if using, scraping up the browned bits. Add stock / deglaze with stock if you aren’t using wine.
6. Return the beef & lentil mix to the pan. Simmer uncovered until thickened and saucy but not dry — the lentils will absorb liquid, so keep it a bit looser than you’d expect. Add extra stock if necessary. At least 10 minutes of simmering for the flavours to meld.
7. Remove and discard the bay leaf and thyme stems. Season with the salt and more pepper.

Mash

1. Meanwhile, cover the potatoes with cold salted water, bring to a boil, and cook until fork-tender.
2. Drain and let steam-dry over low heat briefly. Mash or rice, then beat in the butter and warm milk until smooth. Season to taste. Beat in the egg yolk, if using, for a browner crust.

Assemble and Bake

1. Spread the meat-lentil filling in a baking dish. Top evenly with the mash, then rough up the surface with a fork for texture. Dot with a little extra butter.
2. Bake at 200°C (fan) until golden and bubbling at the edges.