I’m writing this from Poole, where the weather is rather lovely! I’m sat on my Dad’s balcony and once I’ve finished I’m going to go for a dip in the swimming pool. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it… (Update: it took me so long to post this that I am now sat in my sweltering London flat editing it and wishing I was the smug Sally I was a couple of weeks ago…)

Being at home for me involves a lot of cooking and eating, and we whipped up some really tasty treats on my most recent trip. At the weekend we made individual chicken liver parfaits (a hell of a lot easier than you’d think), and a generous spread of slow-cooked lamb shoulder, dauphinoise potatoes and roasted veggies. Baked Alaska followed. There was so much meat and potato left that we conjured up this Greek-y, Moroccan-y take on a classic shepherd’s pie on the Monday night to use everything up. And it was a roaring success and didn’t feel one bit like eating the same stuff two days in a row (I hate that). If you’ve got some leftovers from Sunday’s roast lamb, I’d thoroughly recommend this take on a traditional shepherd’s pie recipe.

You’ll need:

Leftover lamb shoulder, shredded (you just need enough to cover the bottom of your chosen casserole dish)

Leftover dauphinoise potatoes / follow this recipe and swap the stock for cream 😉

Harissa paste

2 red onions, diced

1 green pepper, chopped

10 green olives, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

300ml lamb stock

Sundried tomato paste

Feta

Fresh tomatoes, sliced

Salt & pepper

Once you’ve shredded the leftover lamb, mix it well with the harissa. Then fry the onion and pepper for about 10 minutes, before adding the garlic and olives for another 5. Add the lamb, stir well and cook for another 10 minutes.

Fry the onion and pepper for about 10 minutes, before adding the garlic and olives for another 5. Add the lamb to the pan, stir well and cook for another 10 minutes.

Next, pour in the lamb stock and add a squeeze of tomato paste. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes. Once the lamb mixture is cooked through, cover the bottom of a casserole dish with it and top that with the leftover dauphinoise potatoes. Try to arrange a few of the top potato slices so they’re poking up a bit – they’ll catch and go nice and crispy in the oven.

Finish with a generous layer of crumbled feta and sliced tomatoes, salt and pepper and pop in the oven for approx 25 minutes at around 180.

Easy!