Ingredients for approximately 25 pastelles

The meat filling or Miga

• 500 g minced meat
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• salt, pepper

Place all the ingredients in a frying pan and cook, stirring regularly, until all the liquid has completely evaporated. Mince the mixture a 2nd time. Adjust the seasoning.

The mashed potatoes

• 2.5 kg of potatoes (floury variety suitable for mashing/frying only, such as Bintje, BF15)
• 1 or 2 eggs
• salt
• oil

Peel the potatoes and boil them with a little salt. At the end of cooking, drain all the water and return the pot to the heat to dry out the potatoes. Use a meat grinder to mash the potatoes while still hot. Add 1 or 2 eggs, pepper and salt if needed. Leave to rest for about fifteen minutes. With lightly oiled hands, form balls of mashed potato about the size of an egg. Flatten the centre in the palm of your hand and place one or two teaspoons of filling inside. Close the pastelles gently, flattening them slightly on top. Coat the pastelles in flour and egg. Fry them over low heat in a bath of oil. Turn them over gently to fry the 2nd side.

NB: In response to Andrée, no, you cannot use instant mashed potato flakes!! Only Bintje or BF15 — anything else is a disaster!!!