Beef Short Rib Cottage Pie

Ingredients

• 1.6kg beef short ribs, trimmed
• 400ml beef stock
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 200ml red wine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1.2kg potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 150ml milk, warmed
• 60g butter
• 80g mature cheddar, grated
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan / 180°C / Gas 4. Pat the short ribs bone-dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no browning — then season generously with salt and pepper on every side.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based casserole over a medium-high heat until it shimmers. Brown the ribs in two batches, 8–10 minutes a batch, turning until every face is deeply mahogany. Don't crowd the pan — pile them in all at once and they'll steam in their own juices instead of building that crust. Lift onto a plate.
3. Drop the heat to medium and tip in the onion and carrot. Cook for 6–8 minutes until softened and catching gold at the edges, scraping up any fond as you go. Stir in the garlic and tomato purée and cook for just 30–60 seconds until fragrant and brick-red — watch the garlic, it goes from pale gold to bitter in a heartbeat.
4. Pour in the red wine and let it bubble hard for a minute, scraping every sticky brown bit off the base — that's the flavour you spent ten minutes building. Add the beef stock, Worcestershire, thyme and the rinsed lentils, then slide the ribs back in. Bring to a gentle simmer, lid on, and into the oven for 3 hours until the meat slides off the bone with a fork.
5. Lift the ribs out, shred the meat with two forks and discard the bones and any large lumps of fat. Stir the beef back through the sauce. If it looks loose, reduce over a high heat until it coats the back of a spoon and leaves a clean trail when you drag a finger through. Taste, season, taste again — adjust now, not at the table.
6. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes and celeriac together in well-salted water (it should taste like the sea) for 15–18 minutes until a knife slides in with no resistance. Drain thoroughly and let the steam escape for a minute — wet potato makes gluey mash. Mash with the butter and warmed milk until silky, then beat in two-thirds of the cheddar. Taste for salt one more time.
7. Spoon the braised beef into a large ovenproof dish and level the top. Spread the mash over in generous waves, then rough up the surface with a fork — those peaks are where the crisp bits live. Scatter the remaining cheddar across the top.
8. Turn the oven up to 200°C fan / 220°C / Gas 7 and bake for 20–25 minutes, until the peaks are bronzed and crisp and the filling bubbles up around the edges. Rest for 5 minutes, scatter generously with chopped parsley, and bring it to the table with crusty sourdough alongside for mopping the dish.