Brother from another mother-ship Meat Pie
Let’s talk meat pies. When I was in Leeds for work there was a pie shop called Pieminister. Within that heaven I had a meat pie every afternoon. My all time favorite was “The Mothership” which was any meat pie, with mashed potatoes, minty peas and gravy; in one big delicious pile. I DREAM of these but as I am not from the UK and do not have a Pieminister here so I had to look up the recipe and make them myself. Luckly they’re delightful and provide many amazing meat pie recipes on their blog. Highly suggest a look.
- 4 - 1 large pie
- 30 minutes
- 90 minutes
Ingredients
Pastry:
- 250g (90z) strong plain flour
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 250g (90z) butter, at room temperature, but not soft
- Approx 150ml (5fl oz) cold water Filling
- 500g (1lb 2oz) stewing beef, diced
- 50g (1¾oz) butter
- 6 medium shallots, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tbsp brown muscovado sugar
- 500ml (18fl oz) real ale
- 1 tbsp tomato purée or 1 part paste to 2 part water to make puree
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 medium carrots, sliced thickly
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
- 1 tsp sea salt
- Pepper to taste
Directions
Follow This Pastry Recipe
- Sift flour and salt into a large bowl.
- Roughly break the butter in small chunks, add to bowl and rub in loosely.
- Make a well in the bowl and pour in two thirds of the cold water, mix until you have a firm, rough dough adding extra water if needed.
- Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 mins in the fridge.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle. Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width, about 8in x 20in.
- Keep edges straight and even. Don’t overwork the butter streaks; it should look marbled.
- Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Give the dough a quarter turn and roll out again to three times the length.
- Fold as before, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 mins before rolling. Follow This Filling Recipe
- • Preheat oven to 180C/ 350F/gas 4.
- Put a casserole pan on a medium heat and add the vegetables, garlic, bay leaves and herbs with the butter and fry gently for 10 minutes.
- Add meat, sugar and flour. Pour in ale, tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce. Stir well and season.
- Bring to the boil, put the lid on and either simmer slowly on your hob or cook in an oven for 2 hours. Remove the lid for the final half hour of simmering or cooking. When done, your meat should be tender.
- Add lemon juice. Check seasoning.
- Leave to cool, preferably overnight. uRemove pastry from fridge.
- Fill your dish with filling up to 7cms.
- Dust your work surface with flour, cut the pastry in half and, using a floured rolling pin, roll out until just under 1cm thick. Lay over the top of the pie dish. Trim pastry to the edges and crimp the pastry firmly against the dish.
- Brush the top of the pie with a whisked egg glaze and place into the oven.
- Place into an oven and bake at 180C/ 350F for about 25-30 mins until crust is golden brown.
ProTips
- use fresh ingredients: herbs such as tarragon for chicken pies, or lemon juice to lift a beef sauce. British beef skirt (ask your butcher) is full of flavour and breaks down beautifully when stewed.
- Take inspiration from other recipes. A fish stew or cassoulet works beautifully in pastry.
- Stack up leftover pastry trimmings and freeze for reuse. To reroll, allow it to come back to room temperatue
- Experiment with side dishes: mash, rich gravy, a crunchy salad, sweet chilli sauce, salsa verde, good chips. If you’re looking for The Mothership find a minted pea and gravy recipe on this blog to make your own.
More delicious recipes
This is one of the many fantastic recipes available on this blog
