Did you know the difference between a Cottage Pie and a Shepherd’s Pie?   They are both made with a meat and vegetable layer covered with mashed potato and baked.  A Shepherds pie is made with ground Lamb and a Cottage pie is made with ground beef.  Amazing the things you can learn later in life.

Pat and I have numerous subscriptions to cooking magazines and love to pick an exotic dish to treat ourselves.  Being retired we can make a multi hour dish on a weeknight…. because we can.  When I phone my mother I tell her of our adventurous meals and all she says is “no wonder you are fat”   I try to tell her it is part of the experience of life.

(aww mothers, you have to love them…. apparently there is some kind of law) 

Anyway tonight we made a Sweet Potato Cottage pie.  The filling had the usual ground beef and carrots and celery etc but included olives and cranberries topped with mashed Sweet Potato.  Preparation and cooking took at least 2 hours. 

Very tasty but not sure if we would do it again.  The sweet potatoes make a marvelous top coating but they are so sweet it kind of off-set the subtle flavours of the meat layer.    Still it is a pretty dish.