minerva wrote:

how new do you mean? I know of the both terms being used all my lifetime & no-one would be daft enough to class me as 'new'!!!

I concur with the former and the latter.

My cottage pies are fairly simple affairs (lamb is very hard to find here). Minced beef, diced carrots, OXO, garlic, seasoning and I add a tablespoon of tomato puree. I find that the trick is to get the mashed spuds to 'float' on the top. If I don't sprinkle grated cheese on the top, I use dried parsley.