Recipe: Venison Cottage Pie

I have always had a passion for cooking, I think I got it from my dad, when he is home there is always good smells coming from the kitchen. I always joke around and say that he thinks he's Jamie Oliver because we have all of his books and every morning I can find my dad browsing for new recipes in one of his cook books.

This is a dish that I have been wanting to make for a while and decided last night was the night I was going to try it. My fiancé recently went hunting so we have a lot of wild in our freezer so I made this with venison instead of beef. Some of the other ingredients I have also changed because I find that I never quite stick to recipe's anyway, think I got this from my dad's 'wing it' cooking style and it always seems to work for him. But never the less, it came out really good and would recommend it to anyone!

Meat Filling

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 600g venison mince
• 1 onion, minced
• medium carrot, minced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tin chopped peeled tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• salt and pepper

Potato Topping

• 5 potatoes, peeled
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• salt and pepper

Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with hot water. Add a heavy pinch of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Continue to boil until the potatoes are tender. Mash potatoes, then mix in the butter, milk and Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt and white pepper and set aside.

In a large pan over medium heat. Brown the mince and onions with the garlic. Add the carrots and peas as well as the oregano, thyme and bay leaves.

Stir in tomato paste, tinned tomatoes, stock and flour, stirring often to prevent it from burning to the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper

Now to put it all together...

Spread the mince filling evenly over the bottom of the casserole dish. Spoon the mixture on top and flatten out gently over the mince filling.

Place the pan into the oven on 180 and bake until the potatoes are nicely browned.

...It looks like a lot of work but is actually super easy, give it a try it's definitely worth it!