Hasan Pasha Kofte - Cheesy Beef Kofte

Hasan Pasha Kofte - Cheesy Beef Kofte

Serves 4 (makes 8 kofte)

• 300g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 egg separated (you will be using both the yolk and the white)
• 1/2 tsp Turkish pepper flakes
• 500g beef mince (15% minimum fat)
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 slice of bread, crusts removed, soaked in 3 tbsp of cold water
• 125ml tomato passata
• 75g grated mozzarella cheese
• A small handful of torn flat-leaf parsley
• Sea salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water until tender, drain and return to the pan.  Add the butter, egg yolk, Tuekish pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt.  Mash together until smooth and set aside.

Put the beef mince in a mixing bowl and add the onion, garlic, black pepper, soaked bread, egg white and a good pinch of salt.  Using your hands, mix together thoroughly for a few minutes.  The mixture will feel wet at first, but the bread will begin to absorb the moisture.  Roll into 8 meatballs and place the, in a snug ovenproof dish.  Push your thumb into the centre of each meatball and create a well.  Top each kofte with a spoonful of the mash.

Mix the passata with 125ml cold water and pour around the kofte.  Cover the dish with foil and cook for around 15-20 minutes or until just cooked through.  Scatter over the cheese and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes nail melted.  Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Hasan Pasha Kofte - Cheesy Beef Kofte

This was a nice looking dish, the mash topping was lovely but the kofte I have to say was lacking in flavour for me, if I were to make this again I would up the seasoning somewhat as they just tasted like mince!  Cooking time was also about twice as long as stated in the recipe, perhaps my balls were somewhat large lol.  I will make again but with some tweaks.  The recipe is taken from the cookbook, Turkish Delights by John Gregory-Smith, there are some fab looking recipes in there and will be looking forward to trying out some more.