After all the excesses of Christmas you may have a diet in mind for the new year.

But with the weather still miserable, and dark evenings for quite some time, you still need comfort food occasionally.

I try to encourage my children to cook and this cottage pie recipe ticks all the boxes for a perfect supper. My 13-year-old daughter, Tilly, made this for us and it was delicious. I helped her with the browning of the meat just to make sure she had enough colour in the pan. She practised piping the potato on a tray a few times before going for the real thing on the pie. What a treat to have someone cook for me!