Cottage Pie

I found a bunch of ground beef on markdown for $3 a pound at my local grocery store, so I stocked up and loaded up my freezer. I don't eat beef very much because of the price, so it's nice to have a chance to enjoy it. This could definitely be made with ground turkey instead, or with 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 lentils. It came out to about $1.25 per serving for me. Here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion
• 1-2 carrots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cups beef or chicken broth (I made this using 1 stock cube)
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• salt to taste
• 3 cups mashed potatoes (I made this using instant mashed potatoes)
• 1 Tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit
2. Chop the carrots, dice the onion, and mince the garlic
3. Saute the ground beef in a pan over medium heat until it's all brown with no red showing, then add the onions, carrots, garlic, and peas and saute until the onions look translucent
4. Add the flour and tomato paste, and saute for 1-2 minutes
5. Mix in the broth, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, bay leaf, and black pepper, then bring the mixture to a simmer. Let it simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has reduced to a thick consistency that doesn't fill in when you drag a spoon along the bottom of a pan, about 10-15 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed.
6. Remove the bay leaf, then add the beef mixture to either an 8×8 inch baking dish or a pie dish. Put the mashed potatoes on top, then spread them out so they completely and evenly top the dish.
7. Melt the butter, then use a pastry brush to brush it on top of the mashed potatoes. Use a fork to gently fluff the mashed potatoes to create small ridges to get brown in the oven.
8. Put the baking dish into the oven and cook for 25 minutes. If the potatoes aren't as brown on the top as you'd like them to be at the end, put them under the broiler at 450 for 2-3 minutes.
9. Let cool for 5 minutes then enjoy!