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This is more a note to myself than anything else. Years ago I clipped this recipe out of the Evening Standard - it's a Lindsey Bareham one I think - and nowadays I can't find the clipping. Here's how I do it.
1. Thinly slice 3 onions, or, as I generally do, thinly slice 8 banana shallots. Also, thinly slice three cloves of garlic.
2. Fry this mixture off in a little oil on a low heat for a little under ten minutes. When it's frying add a teaspoon of cinnamon, a bay leaf and a pinch of saffron. When it's almost there, add a handful of chopped mint and parsley. Take care not to burn anything. Just let it sweat and stir it now and again.
2.5. Put a kettle on.
3. While it's frying, get 750g of lamb mince ready. Season it, break it up a bit if it's in a slab. Take the oniony spicy mix out of the pan and put it to one side. Now brown the mince. You will look at your pan and think "I could get all that mince in the pan at once, but it'll probably boil, so I should brown it in batches." Sod it. You haven't got all night. Whack it all in. Get it brown, or at least as depressing a grey colour as you can tolerate. Take it off the heat while there are still little flecks of pink here and there, you're going to cook it a while longer yet. Pour off the fat if there's loads of it and if you want to live forever.
4. Put the onions back. Add to the pan the juice of half a lemon, a tin of drained chickpeas or cannellini beans, two tablespoons of pine nuts, and 300ml of chicken stock (hence the kettle earlier). Put the pan back on the heat and simmer until almost all the stock is absorbed. Toss in another handful of chopped herbs.
4.5. Also, put the kettle back on, you're cooking potatoes next; and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (fan-assisted; I reckon about 200 degrees otherwise.)
5. Peel 750g of waxy potatoes. I use Anya because I'm a masochist of some kind and it's all I can find at Sainsbury's in the waxy line. They're tiny. For heaven's sake use a big waxy variety if you can. Cut them in to cubes about an inch, inch and a half on a side. Boil them for about 15 minutes.
6. Now the stock is almost all absorbed, take the pan off the heat, let it stop being boiling hot, and stir 150g of cubed feta in to the pan. Now pour the agreeably mincy herby spicy mixture into an ovenproof dish or pie tin.
7. Drain the parboiled potatoes and give them a shake in the colander to rough them up a bit. Then cover the mince with the potatoes, spritz them with oil, and pop the dish in the oven for about 20, 25 minutes. You're looking for mini roast potatoes, essentially.
CONTINGENCIES: I always fail to make enough potatoes to cover the top, but this does have the side benefit that some of the lamb I largely boiled earlier by putting too much in the pan gets a nice browned crust where the spuds don't cover it. So I don't mind too much, but future me, if you're reading this? Make more spuds. Secondly, I think it's handy to make 500ml of stock in case you look in the oven and see the potatoes still need ten minutes but it's worryingly dry in the filling. Reserve the 200ml you didn't use earlier for top-ups. This is easy to do because you are too lazy to make your own stock and those handy little pots make 500ml by design.
SERVING SUGGESTION: Peas go nicely with this, and maybe when you go back for seconds some Sriracha (everything is better with Sriracha.)
1. Thinly slice 3 onions, or, as I generally do, thinly slice 8 banana shallots. Also, thinly slice three cloves of garlic.
2. Fry this mixture off in a little oil on a low heat for a little under ten minutes. When it's frying add a teaspoon of cinnamon, a bay leaf and a pinch of saffron. When it's almost there, add a handful of chopped mint and parsley. Take care not to burn anything. Just let it sweat and stir it now and again.
2.5. Put a kettle on.
3. While it's frying, get 750g of lamb mince ready. Season it, break it up a bit if it's in a slab. Take the oniony spicy mix out of the pan and put it to one side. Now brown the mince. You will look at your pan and think "I could get all that mince in the pan at once, but it'll probably boil, so I should brown it in batches." Sod it. You haven't got all night. Whack it all in. Get it brown, or at least as depressing a grey colour as you can tolerate. Take it off the heat while there are still little flecks of pink here and there, you're going to cook it a while longer yet. Pour off the fat if there's loads of it and if you want to live forever.
4. Put the onions back. Add to the pan the juice of half a lemon, a tin of drained chickpeas or cannellini beans, two tablespoons of pine nuts, and 300ml of chicken stock (hence the kettle earlier). Put the pan back on the heat and simmer until almost all the stock is absorbed. Toss in another handful of chopped herbs.
4.5. Also, put the kettle back on, you're cooking potatoes next; and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (fan-assisted; I reckon about 200 degrees otherwise.)
5. Peel 750g of waxy potatoes. I use Anya because I'm a masochist of some kind and it's all I can find at Sainsbury's in the waxy line. They're tiny. For heaven's sake use a big waxy variety if you can. Cut them in to cubes about an inch, inch and a half on a side. Boil them for about 15 minutes.
6. Now the stock is almost all absorbed, take the pan off the heat, let it stop being boiling hot, and stir 150g of cubed feta in to the pan. Now pour the agreeably mincy herby spicy mixture into an ovenproof dish or pie tin.
7. Drain the parboiled potatoes and give them a shake in the colander to rough them up a bit. Then cover the mince with the potatoes, spritz them with oil, and pop the dish in the oven for about 20, 25 minutes. You're looking for mini roast potatoes, essentially.
CONTINGENCIES: I always fail to make enough potatoes to cover the top, but this does have the side benefit that some of the lamb I largely boiled earlier by putting too much in the pan gets a nice browned crust where the spuds don't cover it. So I don't mind too much, but future me, if you're reading this? Make more spuds. Secondly, I think it's handy to make 500ml of stock in case you look in the oven and see the potatoes still need ten minutes but it's worryingly dry in the filling. Reserve the 200ml you didn't use earlier for top-ups. This is easy to do because you are too lazy to make your own stock and those handy little pots make 500ml by design.
SERVING SUGGESTION: Peas go nicely with this, and maybe when you go back for seconds some Sriracha (everything is better with Sriracha.)
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