This recipe is yet another combination of several found on the web, plus the seasoning ideas from the meat mixture of the moussaka. Sort of. Again, we didn't need anything else; there are veggies in the dish already. But you could add, say, a small salad to start with.

This recipe is pretty easy. I'd say it serves 4 to 6.

• 2 onions, diced large
• 1 Tbsp corn oil
• 1.5 lbs ground lamb
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 6 small-med potatoes (about 2 inches round, or equivalent in larger ones) Yukon golds are great for this.
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp dried mint
• 2 Tbsp dried parsley
• 2 Tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper
• 8 oz shredded cheddar or cheddar/jack
• whole milk or half and half

Heat the oil in a large deep ovenproof frying pan. I used my cast iron chicken fryer, which is at least 3 inches or so deep. The pan needs to be deep enough to hold both the meat mix and the mashed potato topping.

Peel (if you must, I didn't) and quarter potatoes. Place in a large pot just covering with water; cook until soft.

While the potatoes are cooking, heat the oil in the deep pan, over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook until soft and slightly browned. Add minced lamb, then cook until the mince is brown and shows a crumbly texture. Stir in the corn, mint, oregano, 1 tbsp of the parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes. Add a half cup milk/cream and the flour. Stir well. Leave to simmer another 10 min. Check seasoning; correct if needed, using more of what you put in already.

While this is simmering, mash the potatoes with about a half cup of milk, more if they're dry, salt and pepper to taste, garlic powder, and 1 tablespoon of parsley. By this time some lamb fat should have risen to the top of the simmering meat mix. Spoon it off into the potatoes; this is instead of using butter. Mix the cheese into the potatoes. Spoon off more fat from the meat and add. Do this a few times.

Smooth out the meat mix. Spoon the mashed potatoes on top and smooth over. Put under broiler until the top is brown and crisp.

Note: If you wanted to, putting a quarter cup or so dry Greek red wine in the meat mix might be tasty. I haven't tried this, but it sounds like a good idea.

(My old house really looked like that in the winter!)

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Last Modified: 3 August 2006