Lamb, sweet potato and tomato pie

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
600g lamb shoulder, cut into 3cm cubes (ask your butcher to do this)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes,
1 carrot, diced
3 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup rosemary, chopped
150g feta, crumbled
3 cups cooked sweet potato, mashed
1/2 cup wholegrain breadcrumbs
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp chopped parsley

Method

Preheat the oven to 150°C or 130° fan-forced.

Over a high heat, in a heavy-based casserole dish, heat half of the olive oil. Brown the lamb in batches and set aside.

Reduce the heat and add the remaining olive oil to the pan. Cook the onion, garlic and ginger for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the spices and tomato paste and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Pour in the tomatoes, carrot, stock, rosemary and return the lamb to the pan and stir well. Cover and place in the oven for one hour. At this point you could either freeze the lamb mixture for another day or continue with the recipe.

If you are continuing, increase the oven temperature to 180°C. Transfer the lamb to a pie dish, sprinkle over the feta and then top with the mashed sweet potato.

Place the dish in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the breadcrumb mixture by combining breadcrumbs, lemon zest and parsley. Sprinkle this over the sweet potato and return to the oven for a final few minutes.

Notes:

This is really nice served with steamed green beans or a salad and warmed Turkish bread cut into fingers and drizzled with olive oil.
You can use lamb mince in place of the lamb shoulder if it is easier.
You will need to keep an eye on those breadcrumbs in the last stages as they can burn very easily.
This recipe was created by Sophie Hansen for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.