Old-School Cottage Pie

serves 7

1 kg potatoes such as Maris Piper

150g butter

100g Manchego Cheese

2 onions

2 carrots

2 sticks of celery

1 tsp thyme

600g beef minced (once)

a good splash of sherry or fino

500 ml good quality beef stock

1 tsp cornflour

Worcester sauce

Maldon Sea Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC

2. Cut the potatoes into small evenly-sized pieces. Put in a pan with cold salted water*. Bring to the boil and simmer till tender.

3. Dice the vegetables. Heat the butter in a pan and cook the vegetables over a moderate heat until soft.

4. Add the thyme and beef . Brown the beef. Add the sherry or fino a stir for a minute to remove the alcohol. Add half the stock. To the other half, whisk in the cornflour before adding it to the beef. Add a good dash of Worcester sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Drain the potatoes; mash in 50 g of butter and the Manchego cheese. Season to taste.

6. Taste and season the meat. If the liquid has been reduced too much, add a little water.

7. Reserve about 250 ml of the liquid to use as a pour-over gravy.

8. Transfer the meat to a baking dish and top with the mash. Run a fork over the mash and dot with the remaining butter.

9. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until the top is crisp and golden.

10. Serve with an extra helping of gravy...

* For veg that grows under the ground; start from cold. For things that grow above ground add to boiling water.