EASY CLASSICS IV

EGYPTIAN SHEPHERD'S PIE

This is my version of an international classic. In Egypt it's commonly called "pureed potatoes in a pan". I still remember the days when as a little girl, I would come back from school to find out, with delight, that our lunch that day was this delicious "pan". Actually it was one of the few things our cook made that I really loved. For me this is comfort food at its best. In a cold winter day, it was heartwarming to come home to a hot meal, and this was the best thing I could have. Now that I'm all grown up and that I traveled the world, I discovered that this is not an exclusive dish of my native country. It seems to be also comfort food for many cultures around the world, strangely enough with very little variations.

What I'm proposing here is the Egyptian version, the one I grew up with, of course with some tweaking. It might be something I picked up along the way when eating the same dish in another country. I really can't tell, because I never knew how it is originally made in Egypt. I only know how it is presented, and how it tastes: it's basically a layer of pureed potatoes, a layer of browned ground meat, topped by another layer of potatoes. What I know for a fact is that I've tried to eliminate as much fat as I could from the dish, without of course affecting the taste or texture of the original. 

Note: for those of you who never had the Egyptian version, it is firmer than the Western shepherd's pie, this is why it can be served in square portions that tend to keep their shape.

                                                         

You'll need:
About 20 medium potatoes
1 lb ground beef
1 cup coarsely chopped carrots
3 stalks of celery
2 tbsp of frozen onion/garlic mixture
1 tbsp butter, at room temperature
Skim milk
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 to 2 tbsp bread crumbs
1 egg

Salt and pepper to taste

The main idea here is to make mashed potatoes. You can make them they way you usually do, but try my way, and you'll see that you'll not miss the fat. So, boil the potatoes and mash them. Add some skim milk and fold in the tbsp of butter. Don't make them very soft, by adding the milk a little at a time. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and sprinkle some bread crumbs to coat it. In the mean time, in a nonstick skillet brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic mixture and salt and pepper. While the meat is browning, pulverize the carrots in a food processor (I use a very small one for these jobs, I think it's less than a cup capacity, best 9 dollars I've ever spent!!!). Then do the same to the celery stalks. Add them to the meat and stir to combine. Adjust the seasoning when all the pan liquids are fully absorbed, then add the tomato paste. Stir to fully cook the tomato paste for a couple of minutes more. Remove from the heat and let it rest before you assemble your dish. Put half of your mashed potatoes in the baking pan and spread to an even layer. Add the meat mixture, spread it to cover the potatoes. Cover the meat layer with the remaining potatoes. Sprinkle some bread crumbs over the top. Beat the egg, you may add some water to it, and brush it over the top of your dish. Bake in a 375 degree oven until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it rest before you start serving it. If you cut it when it's still too hot it will be running, but when it rests, you'll be able to get beautiful layered portions.

Serve with a salad.