Madhouse recipe : Mince & Potato Layered Casserole

This was a dish that we discovered at the hotel restaurant in Turkey back in the summer and I thought it would be easy enough to recreate at home. It's a bit like lasagne using potato slices instead of pasta sheets or moussaka without the aubergines - I have no idea if it is a traditional Turkish dish or something they created for international guests. As I'd made a cauliflower cheese the day before, I was low on milk so I left out the cheese sauce that you'd find in lasagne, but you could definitely add that in between the layers of potato and mince if you fancy.

 Mince & Potato Layered Casserole

ingredients :

500g minced beef

1 clove of garlic

1 onion

drizzle of olive oil

1 carrot

a few mushrooms 

a red/green pepper

salt, pepper, smoked paprika, oregano

a tin of chopped tomatoes

1tbsp tomato puree

leftover baked potatoes

grated cheese

Start by frying the onion and garlic in the olive oil until it starts to soften.

Add the mince and the diced carrot, red/green pepper and mushrooms. (I left out the peppers because I'd run out but they would make a nice addition, it terms of flavour and colour.) Cook for 10-15 minutes until the mince has gone from pink to brown all the way through.

I always multitask when I cook the Sunday roast and throw some potatoes in the bottom of the oven to use as baked potatoes in some shape or form the next day. That was what I used in this recipe, but you could use raw and adjust the cooking time.

Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, salt, pepper and paprika and cook for about half an hour (adding a little extra water if necessary) for the flavours to develop. So basically, you've made a bolognese sauce.

Transfer some of the meat mixture to the bottom of an ovenproof dish.

Add a layer of potatoes.

Repeat until the dish is full or you've run out of potatoes.

Sprinkle with grated cheese and pop in the oven until the cheese has melted and the potatoes are hot (about 20-30 minutes at 180°).

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky as it used up some baked potatoes.