Cottage Pie

Dinner tonight was Cottage Pie. Cottage Pie is a lot like Shepherd's Pie, but using beef instead of lamb.  I used this recipe because I was intrigued by the addition of cheddar cheese to the mashed potato topping but.....I didn't really care for it.  

First problem (and this is not the recipe's fault): I forgot that I don't really like ground beef except for in hamburgers, meatloaf and picadillo.  Secondly, the recipe, as written, would have come out grossly under-seasoned.  It never states to season the beef / veggie mixture (which, of course I did....I even added my favorite hot pepper sauce sambal oelek because it was bland, bland, bland).  Third problem: I used lean ground beef and it still came out greasy.  It'd be better to cook the vegetables and beef separately and then drain the beef, but the recipe says to cook the vegetables first and then add the beef to the pan and cook it for another 6-8 minutes.  Also, I thought it needed more potato topping, like it shows in the recipe photo.  I used one more potato than the recipe stated and it still wasn't enough.  

So I'll be looking for a new recipe and I'll definitely switch to Shepherd's Pie because I like lamb way more than ground beef.  It's sometimes hard to find lamb here in regular (read: affordable) grocery stores, but it's worth the effort to seek it out.  I will definitely add cheddar cheese to the mashed potato topping because that was the best part.