Cottage Pie Also known as Shepherd's Pie, cottage pie is a meat pie with potato topping instead of a crust. Usually, beef or lamb is used in a cottage pie, along with tomato paste, peas and carrots. It is said that "cottage" refers to cattle, thus beef is involved. Shepherd, on the other hand, refers to sheep. That's why lamb is the other ingredient in this recipe. Cottage pie is also a good way to deal with leftovers: just combine cooked meat and veggies, then top with mash potato! After a long time in the oven, flavors come together and a masterpiece is thus produced.