Lamb, Rosemary and Leek Pie

Well, what a day. The floods in Cockermouth (10 miles away) have been making headline news all day. It’s strange to think that where we were standing yesterday afternoon is still under 4ft of water and is likely to be inundated for some time to come. My heart goes out to the people who live in and around Main Street, I can not even imagine what they must be feeling.

With the winds and rain set to continue tomorrow, it’s a night for comfort food (I don’t need much of an excuse for comfort food!). We had a wonderful joint of local lamb the other night for Nick’s birthday, so the leftovers now need using up. I’ve set about making a lamb pie, loosely based around my steak pie recipe. The filling is currently simmering away, or trying to simmer on our useless hob!

I’ve not yet attempted wheat-free (gluten-free in this case) pastry. My wheat free bread, made in our bread machine was a disaster, although I’ve since been told to try using chestnut flour. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the pastry.

Recipe

Pie filing

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs gluten-free plain flour
• A good pinch of herbs de Provence
• Any left-over cooked lamb, or 300-400gr of fresh lamb, chopped
• 1/2 cup of pasata
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1/2 cup of good stock, I used chicken stock as I had some in the fridge.
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• A few sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp (heaped) of dried rosemary
• 6 mushrooms chopped in half
• 2 tsp of redcurrant jelly
• 1 leek, chopped into 1cm circle

1. Heat the oil, add the onion and fry for a couple of minutes in an oven-safe dish until the onion is soft.
2. Toss the lamb in the flour and herbs, add a good grind of black pepper and a little salt. Add to the onion.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for about 3/4 hour.
4. Meanwhile, make the pastry.
5. After the meat has simmer for 45 mins, remove the lid, add the leek and allow the sauce/gravy to reduce for 15 mins. At this stage you can also fish out the rosemary stems and the cinnamon stick.

 

Pastry

The pastry recipe is from Stephen Howarth. I’m expecting great things Stephen!

• 8oz gluten-free plain flour
• 2oz butter, I used goat’s, but I’m going to try using Pure next time to make it totally dairy-free, cubed
• 2oz lard, cubed
• 1 medium egg, beaten

1. Rub the butter into the flour.
2. Stir in the egg and a couple of tablespoons of cold water.
3. Turn out the crumbly dough and knead it. Or, like I did, knead it in the bowl. Unlike normal pastry, apparently ‘gluten-free pastry likes to be handled’.
4. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 mins.

Pie

1. Roll-out 2/3 and line the base of a pie dish. This is easier said than done. You will use a lot more flour to keep the surface dusted, and it’s best to use short strokes of the rolling pin. As there is no gluten, there is not much elasticity in the pastry, so it splits easily as you roll it. When you turn the pastry, or need to handle it, use the rolling pin and the plate knife. You’ll quickly come unstuck if you use your hands!
2. Fill the base with the lamb.
3. Roll out the other piece of pastry, as above.
4. Use a fork to press down the edges of the pie. Pierce the top and place in a preheated oven (180 degrees celcius) for 45 mins.

 

Result: It was good! The pastry was extremely short, which meant it cracked on top in the oven, but that didn’t matter. Also, the gluten-free flour tasty made the pastry taste quite floury. Having said that, I would definitely make it again!

British Pie Week - Steak and Mushroom Pie (therapy)

It's British Pie Week (2nd-8th March)!

It would be a sacrilege to let this pass without acknowledging it. And what a great excuse to make a pie on a wet, miserable and cold day.

Also, pie-making seems to have been designed to fit with my fifteen-minute breaks (almost)!

Here's my recipe for Steak and Mushroom (with a little bit of Ale) Pie, the filling is made up from things that I happened to have in the cupboard/freezer and doesn't follow a particular recipe. I hope it works! The pastry on the other hand follows Delia's recipe, which is tried and tested.

First break (15 mins)
Filling ingredients:
1 small red onion, chopped
2tbs olive oil
400gr local stewing steak tossed in 1tbs of well-seasoned flour
200gr local mushrooms
A small handful of porcini mushrooms
1/2 tsp thyme (dried) or a couple of fresh sprigs
2 tbs mushroom ketchup
75ml port (all that was left in the bottle)
1 beef stock cube
1 can Guinness.

Start by putting the oven to preheat (170 degrees). In an ovenproof dish (I used a small-ish Le Creuset) heat the oil then add the onion. Cook the onion until its soft. Add the steak, mushrooms and thyme and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the liquid (port, mushroom ketchup and Guinness) along with the stock cube. Bring to the boil, then cover and place in the oven. Return to work and enjoy the smell of it bubbling away...

Second break (15 mins)
After an hour give the meat a stir and then make the pastry. I followed Delia's recipe, but I used all butter (as I didn't have any lard) and I doubled the quantities to make sure that I had enough. If there's some left over it will always keep. Put in the fridge to rest. Then remove the lid from the meat for the last 45 mins to allow the liquid to thicken.

I've been getting quite stressed this evening about how much I still have to do for the PhD. Sometimes I'm fine and other times it completely overwhelms me. But, standing there rubbing the butter into the flour was really quite therapeutic. I think that allowing myself the pleasure of cooking (in rationed amounts) is really helping me to keep calm about it all. At least at the moment it is.

Third break (10 mins)
After 30 -40 mins (I know, it's not an hour) take the meat out of the oven and leave to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, take the pastry from the fridge, cut it in half and roll out the first half so that it will cover a pie plate. I just use an enamel plate with a slight lip which I brought from a kitchen shop last year, but I've seen them in camping shops too.
Spray the plate with some olive oil (we have a pump and spray bottle - you can get them from Lakeland) to stop it sticking.
Then, use a palette knife to get the pastry onto the rolling pin , it makes it easier to transfer the pastry to the plate.
Cut-off anyexcess and brush the very edge with egg.
Put some of the filling in the the centre, I've just realised that the filling will easily make two pies, so put the remainder in a tub for the freezer.
Roll out the other half of the pastry and place on top.
Trim the excess pastry.
Go round the edge of the pie pressing the back of a fork into the pastry to seal it. Then brush the top with egg, prod it with a fork three or four times and pop it in the oven at 190 degrees for 45-50 mins. I have an awful electric oven at the moment which is generally quite slow to cook things, so you may find it cooks more quickly than this in your own oven.

Verdict?
If anyone has any improvements, let me know!