Taco Pie aka Tacopaj

This is one of my boyfriend’s favourite meals. And, believe it or not, it is pretty traditionally Swedish. Apparently there was a drive in Sweden many years ago to bring TexMex to the masses. And they clung to taco pie like their lives depended on it.

This is NOT authentic Mexican. This is Sweden-does-Mexican, and they love it. This is also NOT fine dining. This is a really quick mid-week dinner (even quicker if you just use pre-made pastry).

I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I don’t have many firm principles. I’m pretty flexible in some of my opinions and I’m fairly easily swayed. But I HATE taking detrimental shortcuts in my cooking. It’s why I make my own custard, and why I pretty much always make my pastry and spice mixes/pastes from scratch (more on this later..)

But sometimes, a recipe just “feels” like it is asking for shortcuts. This is one of those recipes. I have made this before dutifully in my normal style, with homemade pastry and with my own taco spice mix – boyfriend was not a fan. He said it didn’t taste like the one from home. Fair enough.

And then I remade it with a taco seasoning kit (going against all my better judgement) and pre-made shortcrust pastry, and it was declared a triumph! I even sneaked in some extra spices and veggies, and it was still a success!

So, if you want a close-to authentic Swedish “Tacopaj” then you’re in luck! If you want haute cuisine, just keep walking.

serves 4

Ingredients for the pastry

• 175g plain flour
• 85g cold butter
• pinch of salt

Ingredients for the pie

• 1 tsp oil
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 pepper, sliced
• A few slices of pepperoni, diced thinly
• 400g beef mince
• 1 small packet of “taco seasoning”
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 250ml pasatta
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• A few dollops of sour cream
• Handful of crushed tortilla chips
• Handful of grated cheese

Method

Make up the pastry – for this, I just went against all my gut feelings and used pre-made for this one. I remade it a few days later with homemade pastry. For the homemade, rub the butter into the flour. Add in the salt. Then pour in 45ml of cold water and mix well to form a dough.

Chill the dough for 30 minutes.

While the dough is in the fridge, heat the oil in a pan, and fry the onion, garlic, pepper and pepperoni together for a few minutes until softened and smelling good.

Add in the mince and brown.

Stir over the taco seasoning and the added spices.

Pour over the pasatta and Worcestershire sauce and allow to simmer for 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and roll out the pastry.

Drape the pastry over a suitable pie dish and prick the base gently with a fork. Trim the edges.

Blind bake (I used tinfoil to line the bottom and then poured dried beans on top) for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven, get rid of the beans and foil, and return to the oven for 5 more minutes. Now, spoon the cooked meat filling over the pastry.

Dollop some sour cream over the top, sprinkle over the tortilla chips and then scatter over cheese.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and pastry is golden (I overdid mine a smidge..).

Remove from the oven and leave to sit for a few minutes before slicing.

Traditionally, this is served with rice, but I didn’t know that, so we just had it with leftover tortilla chips.