I Tried Angela Lansbury’s ‘Murder She Wrote’ Cottage Pie—and It’s Perfect for Cozy Season

From the apple and pumpkin pies that always grace my family’s Thanksgiving table to savory options like pizza or pot pie, I love pie every which way. In fact, even with combos I don’t predict I’m going to adore (I’m looking at you, sour cream and raisin!), I end up loving them when they’re served by the slice.

Recently, I’ve been diving deep into vintage recipes by home cooks and celebrities alike. So far, I’ve been blown away by the results of creations such as Lima Bean Mush and Apple Goodie. With comfort food season in full swing, I realized it has been a while since I tried a new pie. So when I stumbled upon Angela Lansbury’s cottage pie recipe, I knew I needed to add it to my meal plan ASAP. 

What Is Cottage Pie?

Cottage pie is extremely similar to its savory casserole cousin: shepherd’s pie. The main difference is the meat used. Cottage pie calls for ground beef, and shepherd’s pie calls for ground lamb.

To make either savory pie, you’ll brown the ground meat, then combine it with vegetables, such as onions, peas, carrots, and occasionally tomatoes or tomato paste. Add broth or wine to create a sauce, transfer this to a baking dish, then top the savory filling with mashed potatoes or thinly-sliced and layered potatoes. Bake until golden-brown and bubbly.

Our Easy English Cottage Pie gets a thumbs up as being “pretty authentic” from a home cook from England. And Lansbury’s rendition is too, according to film archivist Jenny Hammerton, author of the delightfully-named Substack “Murder, She Cooked” and cookbook by the same name, which is where I found this recipe. However, Lansbury, aka Jessica Fletcher for all you ’80s whodunit fans, originally dished up this recipe in the 1997 “Murder She Wrote” cookbook, which features more than 350 recipes from the iconic show’s cast and crew.

Hammerton says that if we only have time to make one Angela Lansbury recipe, this cottage pie should be it. “It’s comfort food at its very best,” Hammerton explains. With those glowing reviews, and knowing my penchant for pie, I gathered the ingredients, tied on my apron, and started assembling this cottagecore creation.

Angela Lansbury’s Cottage Pie

The process for making Angela Lansbury’s cottage pie takes some time, true. But it doesn’t involve any fancy techniques and calls for affordable refrigerator and pantry staples such as ground beef, butter, chicken broth, and potatoes. With a couple episodes of your favorite drama playing in the background, building this cottage might even feel a little fun—and savoring the finished product will be even more so.

With its hearty, beef-and-veggie base topped with creamy nutmeg-scented mashed potatoes, one bite was all it took to convince me that this is among my new favorite ways to use a package of ground beef. The leeks lend a lovely extra dose of subtle onion flavor, and I adore the fact that the sauce calls for a couple ingredients I always have in my pantry: chicken broth and tomato purée.

In fact, any time I have extra mashed potatoes from a takeout meal or last night’s leftovers, I will plan to transfer a couple pounds of ground beef from the freezer to the fridge so I can whip up Lansbury’s comfort food masterpiece again.

Tips for Making Angela Lansbury’s Cottage Pie

After getting to the bottom of the mystery—and then the baking dish once I finished my generous serving—I have a few suggestions and ideas that you might want to keep in mind if you try this pie:

• Half it. Lansbury estimates that her recipe serves eight, but since it starts with four pounds of ground beef, I’d approximate 16 servings here. For my trial, I trimmed all of the quantities in half and baked it in a single 8.5 x 11-inch baking dish (instead of an 11 x 17-inch pan). Of course, if you’re feeding a crowd, feel free to follow Lansbury’s lead exactly.
• Drain it. This cottage pie recipe starts like many others: browning ground beef. Lansbury suggests draining the ground beef crumbles before adding butter to a different skillet to sauté the chopped onions, carrots, leeks, and celery. If you like, you can save some time and butter—and layer on even more flavor—by using the beef drippings as your cooking fat.
• Don’t delay the peas. Lansbury’s directions mention baking the beef, sauce, and sturdy veggies for 15 minutes before stirring in a couple handfuls of green peas. Regardless of whether you use fresh or frozen, you should be OK to mix them into the filling as you add the seasonings—just before pouring the mixture into your baking dish. This way, you can bake it all together for 15 minutes, top with the mashed potatoes, and bake for the final 35 to 45 minutes.
• Spiff up your sauce. Chicken broth and tomato pureé star in the original formula. Beef broth, mushroom broth, or vegetable broth would also play nicely with this recipe. For additional complexity, consider replacing 1/4 cup of the broth with red wine.
• Mix up your meat. It might not technically qualify as a “cottage,” but you have our full permission to swap in ground turkey, chicken, pork, lamb, or a plant-based meat alternative if you prefer. Hey, Jessica Fletcher wrote mystery novels, and you can write your own story here, too.