I find it interesting that your cottage pie is our shepherd pie although we traditionally have a layer of corn between the meat and mashed potatoes.
If you ever wondered:
how canned corn is made.
And if you'd prefer a greener/home made way, try this
Pedal-Powered Corn Degrainer.
I'll have to post my "revisited" shepherd pie recipe at some point. But just to give you an idea, it's made from duck meat, beets and onions and a mixed mash of potatoes, carrots and rutabaga along with a couple more interesting things.