Lebanese Meat Skillet Pie
I read about some little pies called Sfeehas on the internet. Traditionally made with mince lamb, pine nuts and ghee then encased in pastry, they sounded delicious. But as I've never had any success with making paleo pastry, I decided to come up with something similar instead. (I didn't have any lamb, pine nuts or ghee either - but I never let these details stop me when creating in the kitchen!)
What you have here is a shepherd's pie of sorts, but not really. And being cooked in the skillet makes the whole cleaning up thing a breeze.
- 500 grams ground beef
- 140 grams red onion (1 large onion)
- 40 grams slivered almonds
- 30 grams butter
- 50 grams dried apricots
- § tablespoons lemon juice
- .5 teaspoons cinnamon
- .5 teaspoons all spice
- .5 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 small cauliflower
Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Chop up the cauliflower and put into boiling water to cook while you're making everything else. You could also roast the cauliflower in the oven, which adds a new taste to the mash!
Melt the butter in a skillet and cook the almonds until they are just starting to turn brown. Remove the almonds to another pan and set aside.
In the same skillet (see how easy this is?), add finely chopped red onion, ground beef and the salt, cinnamon, all spice and black pepper. Cook until the meat is cooked through.
While this is cooking, finely chop the dried apricots. Turn off the heat on the skillet when the meat is cooked and throw in the apricots and slivered almonds and stir in the lemon juice. Combine well and then press it down in the skillet while you finish making the topping.
When the cauliflower is cooked, drain well and then mash it with a potato masher. You could also puree it, but I prefer the consistency of a little chunky. Spread this mash into the skillet over the meat and pat down well.
Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.
This was less 'pie like' when I served it, but it was delicious. And the leftovers that were put in the fridge overnight slice perfectly!