Microwave Masterclass: Homesick Fresher’s Cottage Pie
This week, Varsity teaches you the culinary cure for homesickness
Homesick Fresher’s Cottage Pie
Prep time: 45 mins
Serves: 2 Freshers' Flu sufferers

- 2 tablespoons of oil (olive for severe cases of the F. flu)
- 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
- ½ Onion
- ½ Garlic clove (or 1 runt one)
- 1 Carrot
- 225g Potatoes
- 50g Lean Streaky bacon
- 225g Lean minced beef
- 75ml stock (veggie/ beef/ lama..)
- 3 teaspoons mixed herbs
- Dash of butter
- Dollop of milk
- Salt and pepper
Phase 1: Let's get saucy
- Chop the onion, garlic and carrot. Chop the rinds off of the bacon and slice as thinly as you dare, depending on how much you value your fingers.
- Find a sizeable micro bowl and put the oil, onion, garlic and bacon in it. Put a lid on and place in the micro for 3 mins.
- Break up the minced beef, covering it with tomato puree and add to into the mix. Cover and cook for another 5 mins.
- Pop your stock cube in a mug and then annihilate it in 75ml boiling water.
- Add the stock and the herbs to the mix, season to taste and cook for 10 mins, stirring halfway.
Phase 2: Mash-up.
- Put the meat mix to the side and keep it covered. Grab another bowl and pop your potatoes in, covering them with boiling water.
- Cover and cook for 7 mins, stirring once. When the potatoes are tender, add the butter and milk and mash to your heart’s content.
- Spoon the potatoes on top of the meat mix and put it all back in the micro for about 3 mins, checking occasionally that the kitchen is not filled with black smoke.
- Tuck in to a plate of homely goodness!
Still room for dessert? This chocolate cake only takes 5 minutes!
Comment / Cambridge’s tourism risks commodifying students
18 April 2025News / Cambridge student numbers fall amid nationwide decline
14 April 2025News / Greenwich House occupiers miss deadline to respond to University legal action
15 April 2025Comment / The Cambridge workload prioritises quantity over quality
16 April 2025News / Varsity ChatGPT survey
17 April 2025