Dutch oven mash with potatoes, leeks and beef – Joke’s way

Fooding aroundFeb 18 20140 Comments

NLpotatoleek2*

Difficulty:Easy  Time:Long

INGREDIENTS (x 6 persons):

  • - 1 kg white potatoes
  • - 750 g leeks
  • - 500 g lean minced beef
  • - salt/pepper
  • - nutmeg
  • - 150 ml warm whole milk
  • - 25 g unsalted butter
  • - 1 handful plain breadcrumbs
  • - extra virgin olive oil
  • - 150 g medium mature Gouda cheese, grated

WHAT TO DO:

For the potato Pureè

Peel and wash the potatoes, cut them in pieces and boil them in salted water. It takes about 20 minutes to be ready. Take the water out and mash the potatoes. Then add the milk (make sure it is warm!) and the butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir the mix, away from the heat source, into a pureè. Keep the mix in a separate place.

For the Leeks

Wash the leaks and then cut them into thin round slices. Drill the water out with a colander. Stew the leak slices in a non-sticky frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil until partially cooked (soft but still crunchy). At the end, add some salt, pepper and nutmeg to your taste. In the meanwhile start preparing the meat.

For the meat

In a deep frying pan, stir the minced beef with a wooden spoon in a little bit of olive oil. When done, add salt and pepper.

Now it’s time to put the dish together.

Pre-heat the oven at 180°C without ventilation.

In a baking pan, lay half of your potato pureè. On top of it, place the leeks. Then add the beef and finish with the rest of the pureè. Cover with a layer of breadcrumbs and, on top of it, the cheese. Add a drizzle of olive oil (or butter in small chunks if you prefer). Place the dish into the oven for at least half hour. The cheese needs to melt and become crusty on the surface. Yummy!

TIPS & TRICKS

  • - This dish can be prepared the day before your dinner. You just put it into the oven before serving it to your guests. In this case it takes a longer time in the oven as the dish is cold. Watch out!
  • - If the Gouda (or other Dutch) cheese is not available in your local shop, you can use medium mature British Cheddar cheese or Italian ‘Latteria’ (such as Asiago or Montasio cheeses).