Meliz Berg cottage pie with halloumi cheese, sesame seeds and mint sauce on this morning.

The ingredients for the filling are: 4 tbsp beef gravy granules, 1 beef stock cube, 800ml boiling water, 3 tbsp olive or vegetable oil, ½ tsp sea salt, 1 large onion, very finely diced, 2 carrots, very finely diced, 2 celery sticks, very fiely diced, 300g chestnut mushrooms, very finely chopped, 1 tsp fresh garlic cloves, finely grated , ¼ tsp fresh thyme leaves, 4 tbsp tatli biber salçasi (Turkish sweet red pepper paste) or tomato pur22, 800g beef mince, ½ tsp coarse black pepper, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce and 2 bay leaves.

For the mash: 1.5kg Maris Piper or King Edward potatoes (weigh them after they have been peeled, cut into small 5cm chunks),
50g butter, 150ml milk, 50g grated Pecorino Romano, 75g grated halloumi, ½ tsp dried mint, 1 large egg yolk, whisked , 1 tsp sesame seeds, Salt and pepper to taste.

See recipes by Meliz in her book titled: Meliz’s Kitchen: Simple Turkish-Cypriot comfort food and fresh family feasts available from Amazon now.