How Do I Freeze Nigella's Shepherd's Pie?

Our answer

Nigella's Shepherd's Pie (from HOW TO EAT) is more accurately known as Cottage Pie, as it is made with minced beef rather than lamb. The beef base is cooked and then topped with mashed potatoes. In the original recipe, the filling and mashed potatoes are already hot, so the pie only needs a short time under a hot grill (broiler) to brown the top.

Nigella suggests freezing the beef filling in individual portions so that they can be thawed quickly and used for pie, or even served with pasta or rice. For one pie, you could freeze the potato topping and the beef filling separately, each in a resealable container. Thaw both the beef and potatoes overnight in the fridge then reheat the beef in a saucepan over a medium heat until bubbling. The mashed potatoes may look a little separated when thawed, but they come back together when reheated. You can reheat the potatoes either in a saucepan over a medium-low heat, stirring frequently, or you can reheat them in a microwave. Either way, make sure they are piping hot all of the way through. Then simply assemble the pie and put under the grill, or in a very hot oven for about 15-20 minutes, to brown the top. If you freeze the pie fully assembled but not baked, you should thaw the pie in the fridge for 24 hours. Remove the pie from the fridge about 1 hour before baking and as you heat the oven, put a baking sheet in to heat up at the same time. We would suggest putting the pie onto the hot baking sheet and baking for 1 hour at 180C/160C fan/350F to make sure that it is hot all the way to the centre and the top is golden and crunchy.