Beef and Potato Pie
Ingredients:
-
600g diced beef
2 tbsp flour
2 onions
3 medium carrots
2 beef stock cubes
600g potatoes
Dried Mixed Herbs
1 bay leaf
Salt & pepper to taste
Water to cover
Puff Pastry to top
1 egg to glaze
2 tbsp Cornflour,
mixed with a little water
Method Put the flour in a plastic bag & season with the salt & pepper Add the beef & shake to
coat in the flour.
In a pan, heat the oil until hot then add the contents of the bag. Stir well, as the flour
will stick. Allowing the flour to brown as this will help to colour the casserole, but
don’t let it burn. Add the chopped onions and carrots and stir well. Cook for a minute
before adding the stock, water and herbs. Stir well and bring to the boil, then simmer
gently, covered. Stir every hour or so.
After 2 1/2 hours, stir well and add the thickly diced potatoes. Cook for another
hour, stirring occasional. The beef will have start to fall away into the sauce, but the
potatoes should stay whole.
Check seasoning and pour off most of the sauce into a jug – this will be the gravy.
Pour the meat into a pie dish and top with the pastry. Trim, if desired for a neater
effect and glaze with an egg wash.
Bake in a preheated oven 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 for 25 minutes, until the pastry is
puffed up and golden.
Whilst baking, mix the cornflour and water mix into the meat juices and heat up to
thicken the gravy.
Apple and Cinnamon
Pie
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup plain flour
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon,
extra for sprinkling
- Freshly ground nutmeg,
to taste
- 7 medium apples, peeled,
cored and thinly sliced
- 1 lemon, zested and
juiced
Method
Preheat oven to
220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7
Mix together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl.
In another bowl, sprinkle apples with the juice of 1 lemon and toss. Stir in the sugar
mixture to evenly coat the apples. Set aside.
Roll out chilled dough into 2 circles and use 1 round to line a 9-inch pie pan. Chill the
other round.
Mound the apple and sugar mixture into the pie pan lined with dough. Dot with the
cubed butter.
Using a pastry cutter, cut an even number of strips from the remaining rolled out
dough.
Transfer every other strip to the pie top and weave in the lattice by folding every
other strip back onto itself and laying another strip perpendicularly.
Fold the strips back across and repeat until completed. Brush the top of the pie with
egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Trim the overhanging dough and
crimp edges.
Bake pie for 45 minutes. Let rest 20 minutes before slicing.
Make Your Own Short Crust Pastry (makes two 9-inch pie crusts)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour - 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold - 12 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed
- 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water
(For a sweet pastry add 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar)
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the shortening and break it up with your hands
as you start to coat it all up with the flour. Add the cold butter cubes and work it into the flour with your hands or
a pastry cutter. Work it quickly, so the butter doesn’t get too soft, until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse
cornmeal. Add the ice water, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together forming a dough. Bring the dough
together into a ball.
When it comes together stop working it otherwise the dough will get over-worked and tough. Divide the dough in
half and flatten it slightly to form a disk shape. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for about 30
minutes. On a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie.