Potato casserole with boiled meat from Elena Bon

Ingredients

• potatoes - 1000 g (it is better not to use young ones)
• carrots - ½ medium (weighing about 50-70 g) - optional
• milk 3.2% fat - 150 ml
• butter - about 30 g + a little for greasing the mold
• egg - 1 large (weighing about 65 g)
• chilled lean beef - 500 g
• onion - 1 medium head (weighing about 120-150 g)
• fresh champignons - about 150 g small (optional)
• sour cream 18-20% fat - about 100 g
• refined sunflower oil for frying - about 1.5-2 tbsp. l.
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper or a mixture of 4 types of pepper to taste
• dill, parsley for garnish (optional)

Cooking

Step 1

Boil the meat at least 12 hours before cooking the casserole. To do this, rinse it under cold running water and fill it in a metal saucepan with a thick bottom with a volume of at least 3-3.5 liters of cold (preferably filtered) water so that it covers it by about 5 cm (about 2-2.5 in total is needed). l of water). Place a saucepan over medium heat and bring water to a boil. Carefully remove the resulting foam with a colander, then reduce the fire under the pan and cook the meat over low heat under the lid for about 1.5 hours.

Step 2

Turn off the fire under the prepared broth with meat, let it cool completely and put it in the refrigerator until consumed. Or, if you plan to store the meat for quite a long time (longer than 2-3 days), transfer it to a smaller saucepan, pour in the broth (so that the latter completely covers the meat) and freeze, and at the right time (on the day the casserole is cooked for 8 hours -10) – defrost at room temperature.

Step 3

Immediately before cooking the casserole, turn on the oven and heat it to 3.5-4 (about 190-210 ° C).

Step 4

Start preparing vegetable puree. To do this, put on fire a pan with a volume of about 3 liters of cold, preferably filtered water. At this time, wash and peel the potatoes and carrots (if you use it). If necessary, cut the vegetables into equal pieces so that they cook at the same time. When the water in the pan boils, put the carrots there first (if you use it), then the potatoes. Boil the vegetables until cooked (which can be checked with a sharp knife - it should go into them without much effort) over low heat under the lid for about 20 minutes. after boiling.

Step 5

While the potatoes (and carrots) are cooking, peel and wash the onion, cut it into small cubes and fry until transparent and soft in a well-heated pan in vegetable oil (about 1.5-2 tablespoons) min. 5-8 over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Then turn off the heat under the pan and leave the onion in it until consumed.

Step 6

Collect the meat grinder. Scroll the meat through it, after removing it from the broth and cutting into small pieces.

Step 7

Put the fried onion to the rolled meat, salt and pepper the minced meat to taste. Add to it about 2-3 small ladles of broth (about 75 ml each) in which the meat was cooked. As a result, the stuffing should turn out to be quite viscous, not crumbly.

Step 8

Once the potatoes (and carrots, if you're using them) are cooked through, mash them. To do this, drain the water from the vegetables, salt with a large pinch of salt or to taste, cover the pan with them with a lid (so that they do not cool down) and set aside. Bring milk (150 ml) together with 30 g of butter to a boil in a small saucepan and immediately pour over the still hot vegetables. Mash them with a special crush until a homogeneous puree, which should turn out thick.

Step 9

Let the prepared vegetable puree cool slightly without covering it with a lid (about 5 minutes), then carefully mix the egg into it with a crush (while trying to beat the mass intensively to make it more airy).

Step 10

Grease a small aluminum baking sheet (17.5 × 27.5 cm in size, 4 cm high) or any other similar size that you have available, grease with butter, put ½ of the vegetable puree on it, smooth it with a spoon, evenly spread the whole minced meat, then - the remaining mashed potatoes, smooth its top, pressing lightly.

Step 11

Lubricate the surface of the casserole with sour cream, if desired, you can make curly recesses on it with a spoon in wave-like movements from top to bottom. Bake the casserole in the oven at 3.5-4 (about 190-210 ° C) for about 50-60 minutes. until golden brown, or as recommended in your oven's instructions for baking meat casseroles.

Step 12

Before serving, divide the finished casserole into portions. Put each serving on a serving plate with a spatula, shifting a piece of casserole from the last with a knife, because. the casserole is tender and sticks to the surface of the shoulder blade. If desired, garnish the casserole with fresh washed and finely chopped dill or parsley and top with fresh vegetables (such as chopped cucumbers).

Step 13

Transfer the rest of the dish to another - clean, closed container and store in the refrigerator at 0-6 ° C for no more than a day. Before serving, warm them up, for example, in the oven, after wrapping them in foil. But the most delicious casserole is freshly prepared.