Shepherds Pie with a Middle Eastern touch

The traditional Shepherds Pie doesn’t have the tomato topping, and has fewer spices than this recipe.

A friend suggested the tomato paste topping, and I added the sliced tomatoes – and the result was excellent and much more colorful than the original, well-known Shepherds Pie.  The meat mixture I make based on what I think are the ingredients in “my” beloved “Lachma’ajun” – which I always eat at the Istanbul Airport when making a flight connection.(Lachma’ajun is a sort of meat pizza, on a thin yeast-dough crust – DEEEEEELICIOUS). So, I borrowed the approximate recipe of the topping of that wonderful Turkish dish, and put it in my Shephards Pie recipe!

Ingredients:

For the potato part of the dish:

• Potatoes (about 8 large)
• fried onions (as much as you like, but the onions should be cut into small pieces)
• salt
• pepper
• pinch of sweet paprika

For the meat filling:

• half a kilo of chopped beef (tip: I use beef chopped with some lamb fat for extra flavor (for this recipe), but it’s also fine to use regular chopped beef of good quality).
• canola oil
• 1 large onion
• 3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• crushed garlic (1-2 cloves)
• 1 red tomato cut into small cubes
•  big handful of parsley chopped well
• handful of pine-nuts – if there are little children who are going to be eating this dish, I chop the pine-nuts into smaller pieces.
•  little piece of a hot pepper sliced or chopped (optional)
• salt
• pepper
• For the topping:
• 2 red tomatoes sliced into think rings
• 2 small containers of tomato paste (should be about 200 grams)
• salt
• pepper
• pinch of sugar
• paprika (sweet and red)
• crushed garlic clove
• water as needed
• a splash of oil (either olive oil or canola oil)

Preparation:

Preparing the potato mixture:

1. Boil the peeled and quartered potatoes in salted boiling water, as you would do for mashed potatoes.
2. When the potatoes are soft and fully cooked, drain well in strainer.
3. With potato masher, mash the potatoes.
4. Mix in fried onions with some of the oil you used to fry them.
5. Add salt, pepper and paprika.
6. TASTE AND ADJUST SEASONING
7. Set aside till the meat mixture is ready.

Preparing the meat mixture:

1. In heavy frying pan put some oil, and then add the chopped meat, and start to fry, separating meat so that the meat doesn’t remain in big chunks. Fry till it is no longer pink in color.
2. Add the chopped onions, chopped garlic,  crushed garlic, parsley, chopped tomatoes, pine-nuts,  small amount of chopped hot pepper, salt, pepper and keep cooking on low flame.
   • At this point you can add a bit of HOT water (no more than a quarter of a cup). Cook for about 15 minutes on low flame).
3. TASTE the mixture, and ADJUST SEASONING.

Preparing the topping:

1. Slice the tomatoes into very thin slices, and put aside
2. In small bowl put the tomato paste, salt, pepper, pinch of sugar, garlic,  oil, and water as needed to make a liquid that you can later pour over the dish before baking.
3. TASTE AND ADJUST SEASONING

Assembly of the dish:

1. In greased round pyrex dish put half the mashed potato mixture; pat it in firmly.
2. Add the cooled cooked meat mixture.
3. Add on top of that, the rest of the mashed potatoes – there should be enough to cover the meat mixture. Pat down so it is even.
4. Place the sliced tomatoes, in circles around the top of the mashed potato mixture.
5. Carefully pour the tomato paste mixture over the tomatoes. If there seems to be too much of the liquid tomato paste mixture, leave a bit to add during the baking, or after.
6. Place in medium oven (180 C or 350 F), and bake till  the topping seems to be nicely baked and the tomatoes look a bit “roasted”. You can add more of the liquid tomato paste mixture in the middle of baking  by  carefully  spooning it over the dish. (Tip: when you do this, take the dish out of the oven for a moment, so as not to burn your hand).
7. It is best to make this dish a bit in advance (half a day or a day), so that it can be easily cut into wedges for serving.