Chicken Shepherd's Pie

Hard to believe but I have never made Shepherds' pie, possibly because I have a potato topped chicken pie that I make that is really good. I'm obviously in comfort food mode as it started to get a bit colder so recipes like this one are really appealing.
This pie was fantastically good and even better the next night when we had the second half.

I made this (or at least a variation of the recipe) with just a plain potato top.
I pretty much doubled the first part of the mix but not the chicken and made loads of mashed potato for the top. It did make it heavy on potato but no one seemed to mind.

The version I made produced two reasonable sized trays. This meant I could give one to a friend who has been helping us out a lot at the moment - although John suggested just keeping it for us after a few mouthfuls of his dinner!
I used disposable aluminium trays which is a bit lazy but I have a few floating around from the BBQ season.

The recipe came from the website Simply Delicious

Shepherd's Pie

1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 celery sticks, finely sliced
1kg Chicken Mince
1 tin cherry tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
1tbsn tomato paste
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper to taste
handful fresh parsley, chopped

200g (7.05 ounces) potatoes, peeled and roughly quartered
300g (10.58 ounces) sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
300g (10.58 ounces) butternut, peeled and chopped into chunks

2tbsn butter
1 cup warmed milk
1 cup mature cheddar, grated
1/2tsp nutmeg, grated
salt & pepper to taste

• Fill a large pot with water and place on high heat. Add the potatoes, sweet potato and butternut.
• In a large saucepan, fry the onions, garlic and celery until soft and translucent.
• Add the chicken and fry until the meat starts to brown.
• Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves and 1/2 cup water and turn down the heat. Cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
• When the vegetables are soft, drain and mash with the butter and milk. (I used my handheld mixer which worked incredibly well to get rid of all the lumps and only took a minute)
• Add the cheese and seasoning and mix through.
• Spoon the chicken mixture into an oven-proof dish and top with the mashed vegetables. I like to take a fork and make patterns on the mash but you can just dollop it on if you don’t feel too creative.
• Place in a pre-heated (200°c) oven and cook for 10-15 minutes until the vegetable layer is slightly browned.
• Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.