Shepherds Pie For Two Classic Cottage Pie For 2 Dinner

When I first started this site, 11 years ago, I was truly just cooking small batch recipes for myself. It was just me, eating both servings of molten chocolate cakes. I would occasionally share a small batch of cowboy cookies with the dude I was dating (who is now my husband), but for the most part, it was just me eating for two. Since those days, we have grown to a family of 4. Yet, we still find ourselves enjoying a small casserole in an 8x8-inch square dish rather than a 9x 13-inch pan. We grow tired of lasagna too quickly to make a big pan. My husband, my toddler, my baby, and I can finish a small casserole of cottage pie for 2 in one dinner. If you’re new to shepherds pie for two, it’s ground beef seasoned with tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce that is then thickened with flour. Then, frozen mixed vegetables are tossed in, and everything is poured in a casserole pan and topped with mashed potatoes before being baked. My version of shepherds pie for two is better than most because the mashed potatoes have plenty of butter and milk. True cottage pie, as this is called when it’s made with beef instead of lamb, has potatoes without milk on top. However, making the potatoes creamier and richer is always a good idea. I’ll continue to call this shepherds pie instead of cottage pie, though, because more people are familiar with the term shepherd’s pie.

Ingredients for shepherds pie for two:

olive oil: Regular olive oil is fine, not extra virgin, since we’re using it to sauté the beef. ground beef: Use ground lamb to make this authentic shepherds pie, or ground beef for cottage pie. Also, I tested this recipe with plant-based ground meat (also known as Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat), and it worked great! The same is true for my crockpot beef and vegetable soup. onion: Half of a medium onion, diced small is what we’re looking for here. garlic: While garlic isn’t typically seen in cottage pie for 2, we’re adding it for extra flavor. tomato paste: The acidity of tomato paste makes the beef slightly tangy–so good! salt: fine sea salt is always preferred for cooking and baking. freshly ground black pepper: To taste. beef broth: Slightly less than one cup of beef broth to make the beef saucy and rich. Worcestershire sauce: We use worcestershire sauce because it has so many umami notes. The savory and complexity it brings to a dish is unbeatable. I use it in my sheet pan easy salisbury steak, too. soy sauce: Another umami bomb–just a small amount of soy sauce is needed. flour: To slightly thicken the filling for the shepherds pie. frozen mixed veggies: You’re looking for a bag of frozen vegetables that contains carrots, peas, corn, and green beans. Russet potatoes: Russets are the common baking potato with brown skin. Their starchiness is perfect here, but you can substitute Yukon golds, like I do in my make ahead mashed potatoes. butter: Unsalted butter, for making the potato topping creamy and delicious half and half: Typical cottage pie for 2 doesn’t have any cream or milk in the potato topping, but I think it needs it! It makes the potatoes on top super light and fluffy!