Beef & Red Pepper Bake

I've had a few requests recently for some new recipes using beef mince. I can understand why, because beef mince seems so versatile, yet the only recipes you generally see are bolognaise, cottage pie, chilli or meatballs/kofta. Even if you dig deep you find a rare few, like South African Bobotie or a Palestinian dish using beef mince and tahini sauce. I wanted something new. So I took a few ideas from all of them and came up with this Beef & Red Pepper Bake.

It doesn't contain anything unusual for a standard kitchen and is quite cheap to make, but is a nice twist on a shepherds pie. Or a European twist on the Palestinian 'Kofta bi Tahini'. Rustic and full of flavour - a perfect midweek bake.

Ingredients:

2 large red peppers
500g beef mince
1 large onion, peeled and halved
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 medium tomatoes
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. paprika
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. ground cumin
25g fresh parsley, chopped
3 potatoes, peeled and sliced to 1/2cm
30g  cheddar cheese, grated

Method:

Set the oven to 200 C and put the two large red peppers on a baking sheet. Cook for 25 minutes, until skin is blackened. Put into a plastic freezer bag or cling film to steam as it cools.

Put the two tomatoes into a microwavable jug and cook for about 1 minute, until soft. Remove the skin from the peppers and put the flesh into the jug with the tomatoes. Add one of the halves of onion, roughly chopped, the garlic, 1 tbsp. paprika and 1 tbsp. cumin and blend with a hand blender to make a paste. Add approx. 150ml water and blend again, making a pourable sauce. Set to one side.

Finely chop the other half of onion and put into a bowl with the beef mince, the 1 tsp. of cumin and paprika, the parsley and some salt & pepper. Mix well and press into a baking dish (see photo below). Using a clean finger, press holes into the mince and pour about half of the pepper sauce over the top. Put in the oven for 15 minutes

While the mince is in the oven, put the sliced potatoes on a microwavable plate and par cook for about 3-4 minutes (you can par boil in water if preferred).

When the 15 minutes are up, turn the oven down to 180 C, take the mince out of the oven and layer over the potatoes, with a little more salt & pepper. Pour over the remaining pepper sauce, cover with foil and put back in the oven for 25 minutes. Take the dish out of the oven, remove the foil and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes, uncovered, until the potatoes are cooked through and the cheese bubbling. 

Serve with a side salad for a delicious, filling dinner.