AD | Fırında Köfte with Buttery, Garlicky Hasselback Potatoes
As soon as the weather warms up, I want to eat every meal outside, but that doesn’t mean that I always cook outside. This recipe is all cooked in one dish, in the oven (I LOVE all the features on my AEG Steam Crisp Steam Oven - some of which you can see on this Reel) but still brings all those delicious, Mediterranean flavours to the table. A simple dream to make and to eat, and packed full of flavour, you can find the full recipe on my blog, link to the recipe reel here.
For the Köfte
50g fine breadcrumbs
100ml milk
500g Lamb or Beef Mince
1 large onion, very finely chopped (in the food processor)
or coarsely grated and juice squeezed out
50g fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp Turkish Sweet Red Pepper Paste
1 tsp olive oil
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp pul biber
1 tsp dried mint
¾ tsp sea salt flakes
¾ tsp coarse black pepper
1 onion, peeled and thickly sliced
A small handful of cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 chicken or vegetable stock cube
400ml boiling hot water
For the potatoes
750g Charlotte or large new potatoes, washed well
50g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp finely grated garlic
¼ tsp dried mint
¼ tsp pul biber
1 tsp finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
½ tsp sea salt flakes
Method
Preheat oven to 180c fan / 200c.
Place the breadcrumbs into a small bowl, add the milk, and
stir well so that the breadcrumbs soften.
Place the mince into a large bowl along with the onions,
fresh parsley, soaked breadcrumbs, red pepper paste, olive oil, cinnamon,
cumin, pul biber, dried mint, salt and pepper and mix everything together, really
well. Cover the dish with clingfilm and pop in the fridge while you prepare the
potatoes.
Place a wooden spoon on a sturdy chopping board, and place one
of the potatoes horizontally in the spoon. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut
thin slits vertically into the potato, without going all the way through (the
wooden spoon will prevent you from going all the way through but still take
care – you want the potato to stay intact). Repeat this with all the remaining
potatoes.
Mix together the butter, garlic, ¼ tsp dried mint, ¼ tsp pul
biber, 1 tsp fresh parsley and ½ tsp salt and spread a generous amount of the
seasoned butter all over each of the potatoes until all of the mixture has been
used up and all of the potatoes are covered.
Take the köfte mixture out of the fridge, and with a bowl of
cold water beside you to wet your hands with whilst shaping the köfte (to
prevent the mixture from sticking to your hands), shape the mixture into 12
equal sized patties. Alternately arrange the shaped köfte and potatoes in an
ovenproof, heavy bottomed casserole dish with a lid (if you have one, or a
regular oven proof dish without a lid will be fine), squeezing the sliced onion
and cherry tomatoes in between the köfte and potatoes. Mix together the tomato
puree, stock cube and boiling water until the former two have fully dissolved
in the liquid, and carefully pour the stock mixture into the dish.
Cover the dish tightly with foil, then the lid (if using)
and pop in the oven for 1 hour. After an hour, take out, remove the lid and the
foil, and carefully baste everything with some of the bubbling juices. Pop the
dish back in the oven, uncovered, turn the heat up to 200C fan / 220 C and cook
for another 15-20 minutes until everything is a lovely golden brown colour.
Take out and let it rest for 5 minutes at least before
serving. Serve with a sprinkling of fresh parsley, a good dollop of thick set
natural (süzme) yoghurt and some black olives, pickled peppers and a fresh
salad.
