Serves 4
Use an 8½ inch casserole dish or similar
Traditionally pastelicos are small canapé-sized stuffed pastries. You flatten potato dough in the palm of your hand, place a bit of filling inside and fold over to create a little disc that you flour and deep-fry. Delicious and so much fun, but they belong to a different era. We try to keep traditions alive. If this means we need to adapt a bit—increase the size and bake rather than fry—so be it. The result is just as tasty, and the old recipe gets a new lease of life. If you ever find yourself with time to kill before a big party (yeah, right), you can make these the old-fashioned way, but if you’re looking for a truly great lunch for fairly little effort, look no further.
1.5kg medium-large potatoes (Russet and Desiree work really well)
¼ tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp table salt
2 tsp ras el hanut spice mix
2 eggs
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced
2 tbsp oil
800g ground beef
1 tsp table salt, plus more to taste
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground fennel seeds (I always grind my own)
1 tsp sweet paprika
250g/ml water
2 bay leaves
olive oil, for brushing
Preheat the oven to 425°F/400°F convection. Bake the potatoes on a tray for about 1 hour or until soft. Check by inserting the tip of a knife; it should go through without any resistance. Allow to cool.
While the potatoes are baking, fry the onion in the oil over a high heat until soft and starting to color (about 8–10 minutes), then add the ground beef. Break it up so it can color all over. Stir in the salt, pepper and spices and fry for 2 minutes—keep stirring so they are well distributed. Add the water and bay leaves and reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 20–30 minutes until most of the water has gone. Taste and see if you wish to add a little more salt.
As soon as the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut in half and scoop out the soft flesh (you should have about 700g). You can discard the skins (or fry them, toss in some salt and paprika and eat with some plain yogurt). Place the potato in a large bowl and use a potato ricer or grater to break it down. Add the other dough ingredients and mix well to combine. Don’t be tempted to use a food processor, as it will make the mixture very gluey and not so pleasant to eat.
Place half the potato dough in the bottom of the casserole and flatten into a smooth layer. Tip the beef mixture on top and spread evenly, pressing down to flatten. Top with the remaining potato dough and flatten down again. You can prepare to this stage up to a day in advance and keep the unbaked pastel in the fridge until you are ready to cook.
Preheat the oven to 400°F/375°F convection and brush the top layer of dough with some olive oil. Bake for 20–30 minutes (or 50–60 minutes if it has just come out of the fridge) until a light brown crust forms. Remove from the oven and serve hot.