Friday Feast - Steak and Mushroom Pie

This recipe is really a steak and kidney pie one, Len doesn't like kidney so I use mushrooms instead. If you do prefer kidney instead of mushrooms, then use four lambs kidneys, quartered and add them at the point in the recipe where it says to add the mushrooms. It also uses mince instead of cubed steak - it's always a winner here.

Steak and Mushroom Pie

The pastry leaves are just something I automatically do - for some reason my Mum always put pastry leaves on savoury pies and I picked up the habit from her!

Ready for some mashed potato, green vegetables and a touch of extra gravy

Serves 4 - but see my note below

300g (10oz) plain flour
1 tsp salt
75g (2½oz) chilled butter, cut into cubes
75g (2½oz) chilled lard, cut into cubes
2 tsp sunflower oil or your preference
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
500g (1lb) lean minced steak
150 g (6 oz) or so of button mushrooms, halved or quartered depending on size
250g (8oz) potato, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp gravy granules
1 egg, beaten, for glaze
20cm (8in) pie plate, greased

Put the flour into a food processor with the salt. Add the butter and lard. Pulse the processor until the mixture forms crumbs. Measure out 5-6 tbsp ice-cold water. Pour in most of the water, pulse until the mixture just combines; add the rest of the water if needed. Lightly knead dough on a floured surface, wrap and chill.
 

Heat the oil in large frying pan, add the onion and cook for a few mins until softened and lightly browned. Add the carrot and fry for a couple of mins, then add the mince to the pan. Breaking it up and continuing to cook for about 10 mins, until it’s browned all over.

Set the oven to Gas Mark 6 or 200°C. Add the kidneys (or mushrooms) and potato to the mince, then add the Worcestershire sauce, followed by the gravy granules. Stir well. Simmer gently for 15 mins until meat is tender. Tip into a bowl to cool.

Roll out half the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use to line the pie plate. Spoon in the cooled meat filling. Brush the pastry rim with water. Roll out the remaining pastry on a lightly floured surface and use to cover the filling. Pierce twice with a knife. Seal edges, cut off trimmings and crimp rim.

Brush the pie all over with the egg glaze and bake for 35 mins, until the pastry is golden.

 

Things I do: First of all, I do sometimes cheat and use  pre-made pastry sheets from the supermarket - although the pastry recipe above is very easy to make it just saves on a bit of messing around and also on some washing up.

 

I've already said that I substitute mushrooms for kidney. But the main thing is that this recipe makes a lot of pie filling - so much so that I always only use half for the pie itself once I've cooked it to the point of tipping into a bowl to cool. If you try the recipe I'm sure you'll see just what I mean - the rest of the filling gets frozen, then fully defrosted and used another time which is a great time saver. That's got to be a plus :) 

 

Enjoy!

I'm off out to a meeting for most of today to discuss where to land on go for our 2013 long-weekend school reunion. So far, in almost 20 years of these reunions, we've never gone to the same place twice - I wonder why?! It reminds me of the saying about only going somewhere twice when the second time is to apologise!

Di
x