English Cottage Pie

Worcestershire sauce is the secret ingredient in the meat sauce for this recipe. It is the distant cousin of a tamarind-flavored Indian sauce which is served in Indian restaurants. The tamarind/Indian date is a flat seed with a sweet-and-sour sticky paste. Tamarind grows in India, Asia and northern Africa.

Meat Filling

    2 pounds lean ground beef
    2 cups chopped yellow onion
    1 packet Lipton
® Recipe Secrets® Onion Recipe Soup Mix
    1 ½ cups starchy water from boiling potatoes
    1 tablespoon beef base
    1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
    1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
    1 teaspoon dried summer savory leaves
    2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    ¼ cup water
    2 large carrots, peeled and quartered

Potato Topping

    3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
    2 tablespoons butter
    Pinch sweet paprika
    Ground black pepper
    2 tablespoons half-and-half
    ½ teaspoon garlic salt
    ¼ teaspoon salt


1.  Boil the carrots and potatoes in a 6-quart Dutch oven. Drain
     and reserve 1 ½ cups water from the potatoes. Set the
     potatoes and carrots aside.

2.  In the same Dutch oven, brown beef then add onions, soup
     mix, 1 ½ cups water from boiling potatoes, beef base,
     Worcestershire sauce, parsley and savory. Cover and simmer
     10 minutes.

3.  Mix flour with the ¼ cup water until smooth. Pour in some
     of the hot liquid from the meat.

4.  Stir back into the meat. Slice the carrots into ½-inch pieces.
     Add to meat mixture. Pour into a 3-quart casserole.
 
5.  In a large bowl, mash potatoes. Stir in butter, paprika,     
     pepper, half-and-half, garlic salt and salt. If you use a mixer,     
     you risk having gluey potatoes and these need to be fluffy.         
     Arrange the potatoes in little heaps over meat or flatten with a  
     fork for a more traditional appearance.

7.  Bake in preheated 350
° oven for 30 minutes.

     Hint: For a fancy dinner, place mashed potatoes in a pastry
     bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe rounds onto meat filling.

     Makes 4 servings