Ingredients

250g mince lamb & 250g mince pork

3 onions

Decent quality salami sausage or chorizo chopped into small cubes

3 carrots

Chicken stock cube or your own chicken stock made to about 300mls with boiling water.

2 Handfuls of frozen peas

1kg desiree or vivaldi potatoes. Peeled and cut into 8’s

100mls of milk

50g butter

Method

Dry Fry the mince in batches in a casserole. Season each batch with salt and pepper as you go. Remove the meat to a bowl once it’s browned.

Reduce the heat under the casserole and gently cook the sausage cubes to render the delicious oils and crisp the meat. When they are done (about 5-10mins) remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl, leaving the oils in the pan.

Add some more oil to the pan and add the onions, turn the heat down and allow then to gently caramelise, stirring occasionally to make sure they don’t catch. Fry them for about 15mins. When they are nicely brown, add the chopped carrots and stir in, cook for a few minutes before adding the meats back to the pan. Add the hot stock and mix it all in. Place the lid over the pan and bring it all to a gentle boil.

Place the casserole in a pre-heated oven at 160c for about 2 hrs or until the sauce is reduced and thick

While that is in the oven, make the mash to go on top:

Boil the peeled chopped potatoes until they are tender and falling apart. Depending on how small they are cut, this takes about 15-20mins. Don’t be tempted to cut them too small as I think they can get water logged and insipid. Drain them and set them aside in a bowl.

Heat the milk in the pan you’ve used drained the potatoes from and crush the potatoes into the milk. I like to use a potato ricer to crush them but I used to use a normal masher. Add the butter to the hot potatoes and season to taste. Stir it well with a wooden spoon and remove pan from the heat. To prevent a skin forming on the mash while you wait for the filling to cook, cover it with a cartouche (scrumple up a piece of greaseproof paper and place it directly over the mash and press into the sides of the pan to make a close fitting cover).

When the filling is nice and thick and lovely, remove from the oven add the frozen peas and mix in. Spoon big lumps of the mash over the mince and then gently smooth it together with a fork to form an even layer of mash over the whole thing. If you texture the surface with a fork or similar, it will allow the peaks to brown and crisp up more in the oven.

Return the whole pie to the oven and bake until it’s browned on the top. You can brush the mash with egg yolk before you bake it to make it brown more. Or sprinkle over grated cheese or even mix the grated cheese into your mash before you spread it…. so many artery clogging options!! The example pictured is plain mash (with butter in!!)