Mini Shepherd's and Cottage Pies

A smoky American classic and part of my everlasting love affair with winter comfort food!
The difference between these two lovely staples is mainly being its meat. Shepherd's pie comes traditionally with lamb and Cottage pie with beef - But there are hybrids, of course, and lots of debates going about the choice of seasoning.

What I did IS in fact an hybrid from the Cottage kind, where I added some pulled pork to the minced beef, resulting in way more flavour!
Prepping ahead is the key so get your timing right.

1. For the Pulled Pork (easy recipe mashup!):
1.5kg Pork Shoulder (on the bone, and with a good layer of fat on top)
230ml BBQ sauce
1 large onion (grated)
120 mlChicken or Veg Stock
1 teaspoon mustard
Sweat the onion and set aside.
''Sear'' the Pork shoulder in a pan with some olive oil or butter in order to trap all the juices in.
Once the meat is nicely browned transfer pork and its juices into the Slow Cooker.
Add the stock, the onion, BBQ sauce and mustard. Cook on high for about 5 hours. Once properly cook shred the pork using two fork - it should fall apart very easily. If not, then more cooking is required.

2. For the mince Beef
500gr lean mince beef
1 clove of garlic (grated)
1 shallot (grated)
2 carrots (grated)
500ml chicken or veg stock
1 tbsp tomato puree'
green peas (optional)

Sweat the onion in some olive oil, once nice and brown add the garlic and carrots.
Stir in the beef and let cook until all of its juices are being re-absorbed.
Add the stock and tomato puree'. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 mins.
Once the minced beef is ready transfer it onto the slow cooker together with the pulled pork and let it simmer for another hour.

3. For the Mash:
500gr potatos peeled and cut into chunks
2 carrots peeled and cut into chunks
a knob of butter
grated cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Boil potatos and carrots until tender. Drain well,then mash with butter, salt, pepper and cheese.

4. Now the exciting part:
The pulled pork and minced beef must have cooked wonderfully and are ready to be transferred into ramekins. Fill each ramekin with a generous 3/4 meat filling - then scoop a nice dollop of mash to topup. Use a piping bag to get a lovely design!
Bake in the over at 180 till the mash turns crisp (approx 10 mins)
Serve with a little gravy and some veg. Enjoy!