Nigella Lawson did something with mince and red onion marmalade and sherry on Nigella Express a few weeks ago. The red onion marmalade inspired me. In her recipe, she used shop bought red onion marmalade, but I happened to have some in the fridge that I made a while ago. Her recipe was pure mince indulgence, but I was making a cottage pie. But, I couldn’t be arsed messing around with loads of herbs and tomatoes and onion frying so I thought I’d try the red onion marmalade trick. it turned out to be completely delicious.
Peel your potatoes (1-2 per person), cut in half, boil until soft.
Meanwhile, 1-2 tablespoons of red onion marmalade to a saucepan.
Add some pre cooked mince that was hanging around in the fridge
Add a glug of wine
In the microwave, steam some carrot bites and peas. If you don’t have peas, use green beans.
When cooked, add to mince mixture. Stir or don’t stir, but leave to cook for a few minutes, simmering until the alcohol has boiled out of the wine. Basically, simmer until there is still liquid in the pan, enought so that it won’t dry out in the oven.
Tip the mince mixture into an oven proof dish. I like Jamie Oliver’s Royal Worcester oven dishes. These ones were a wedding present, but they are the nicest dishes to cook in the oven with.
After you have tipped out the mince mixture, grate some garlic into the same saucepan, add some olive oil, a knob of butter and cook gently. Add another tablespoon of onion marmalade. Add some milk. Heat the milk so that all the butter melts in it. Do not boil.
Drain the potatoes in a colander. Replace in saucepan and leave on gentle heat for a couple of minutes to ensure all moisture is gone out of potatoes from boiling. Mash. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour in milk mixture. Stir around. Spoon onto mince mixture. Flatten out and make sure there are no gaps at dish edge so that liquid in mince mixture cannot escape as steam (leading to dry pie). Grate some mature cheddar over. Place in hot (200 degrees centigrade) oven and cook for ten to twenty minutes.
Then, turn on grill and brown potatoes.
That’s that. Serve when cheese on top has turned to golden. Serve immediately. Quick, comforting autumn supper in a hurry.
