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Posts Tagged ‘Pie’

This recipe is rich with a natural gravy and very flavoursome and filling. Despite this it is very low in calories so perfect if you’re watching your weight or for a midweek dinner. We ate this over two nights (instead of three) as we were both a little greedy, and also because it was so moreish.

Gardener’s Pie – to serve 6

  • 1 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 2 shallots, chopped
  • 3 celery sticks, trimmed & chopped
  • 2 large carrots, peeled & diced
  • 2 large parsnips, peeled & diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 150g puy lentils, rinsed & drained
  • 1 litre hot vegetable stock
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 500g floury potatoes, like Maris Piper, peeled & cut into small chunks
  • 15g butter
  • 2 tsp plain flour

Heat the sunflower oil in a deep, large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the shallots, celery, carrots & parsnip for 8-12 minutes and until brown. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.

Stir in the lentils, stock, tomato purée and bay leaf and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes and until tender.

Put the potatoes into a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and cook for about 10 minutes and until tender. Drain and add the butter and some seasoning. Mash until smooth. Add a little extra butter if you’d like for a bit more richness.

Heat the grill.

Sprinkle flour over the simmered lentil mix and stir in. Cook for another 2 minutes until thickened. Spoon into a warmed, heatproof pie dish.

Top with the mashed potato and grill for 5 minutes , until golden. You’ll need to keep an eye on this as the time needed will depend on the griller.

Serve with: try a Beaujolais Cru, like a Régnié, which will have a both lightness and depth, plus a bit of earthiness to match the lentils. Beaujolais is never too heavy, and the Cru’s add depth and personality that is harder to find in a basic wine.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Mince and Onion Pie

Jamie's Easy Meat Pie

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe but we’ve reduced the amount of stock in our adaptation below as we thought the filling was too liquid. Easy and tasty for mid-week. We always have peas with pies.

Classic mince and onion pie – to serve 4

  • 3 medium onions
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
  • olive oil
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 500g minced beef
  • 1 tsp English mustard
  • 1 tsp Marmite
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tsp flour, plus a bit extra
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 1 large egg or some milk

Peel and roughly chop the onions, carrots and celery. Finely chop the rosemary leaves.

Heat a large casserole pan over a high heat. Add a couple of tbsp of olive oil , the vegetables, rosemary and bay leaves. Cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and have started to colour.

Stir in the minced beef and break up the chunks with a wooden spoon.Add the mustard, Marmite, Worcestershire sauce and 2 tsp of flour.

Dissolve the stock cube in 500ml of boiling water and add to the pan. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat down  and simmer with the lid askew for an hour, stirring occasionally.

Fill a large baking dish with the mince filling and allow it to cool. Take the pastry out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you want to use it.

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.

Dust the work surface and your rolling pin with some flour, then roll out the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin and big enough to cover your dish easily. Cover the dish with the pastry and run a knife around the edge of the dish to trim off any excess. Use a fork to crimp the edges and make a hole in the middle with a knife. Brush the top of the pastry with beaten egg or a little bit of milk. Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Wine Suggestion: an easy red wine, like a Cotes du Rhone or a Shiraz blend from Australia would work well; something juicy and with a moderate body but not too heavy at the same time. Easy drinking to match the easy eating!

(Original recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Ministry of Food, Penguin, 2008).

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One of those recipes that work because of their simplicity. The flavours all work together so there is no need to mess with them.

Easy Chicken & Corn Pie – to serve 4

  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 400g chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 150ml chicken stock
  • 325g can sweetcorn, drained
  • 6 tbsp crème fraîche
  • handful of parsey or basil, chopped
  • 750g potatoes, cuts into chunks

Fry the onion and chicken in the oil for 5-10 minutes or until the onion is soft and the chicken golden. Pour over the stock, bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Add the corn, half of the crème fraîche,  the herbs and some seasoning.

Meanwhile, boil potatoes until soft, then drain and mash with the rest of the crème fraîche and some salt and pepper. Pour the chicken into a pie dish and top with the mash. Put the dish on a baking tray and put under the grill until golden.

Drink with: a glass of full-bodied, oaked Chardonnay.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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This dish is easily doubled to make two pies, particularly if you are like us and had to defrost a whole packet of filo pastry.  The filo is very forgiving so don’t worry if you’re pastry sheets don’t look too neat and tidy. You could add some cooked chicken if you like things meaty.

Easy Veggie Filo Pie – to serve 4

  • 200g spinach leaves
  • 175g jar sundried tomatoes in oil
  • 100g feta, crumbled
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ 250g pack filo pastry

Put the spinach into a large pan. Add a 2 tbps water, then cook until just wilted. Drain in a sieve, then squeeze out with your hands once it’s cold enough to handle. Roughly chop and put into a bowl. Roughly chop the tomatoes (reserve the oil) and add to the spinach with the feta and eggs. Mix well.

Unroll the pastry and be careful not to tear the sheets too much. Cover with some damp kitchen roll to stop it drying out. Take a sheet of pastry and brush really well with some of the oil from the tomatoes. Drape the sheet, oil-side down, in a 22cm loose-bottomed cake tin, leaving some pastry hanging over the sides. Brush another sheet and place in the tin at a slightly different angle. Keep doing this until you have used about 3 of the pastry sheets. Pull the sides into the middle, making sure the filling is totally covered. Brush with a bit more oil on the top if necessary.

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Cook the pie for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. Slice into wedges and serve with a salad and some tzatziki.

Drink with: a glass of Chablis which should have a saline quality to compliment the salty feta.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Fantastic Fish Pie

Sometimes the less complicated recipes are the best. Our fish pies usually have all sorts of stuff inside but this white fish, egg and parsley sauce combo was delicious. Perfect comfort food.

Fish Pie – to serve 4 

  • 1 small onion, thickly sliced
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 600ml milk
  • 300ml double cream
  • 450g unskinned cod or haddock fillet
  • 225g undyed smoke cod or haddock fillet
  • 4 eggs
  • 100g butter
  • 45g plain flour
  • 5 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1.25kg floury potatoes, peeled
  • 1 egg yolk
  • salt and freshly ground white pepper

Push the cloves into a couple of the onion slices. Put the onion into a large pan with a bay leaf, 450ml of the milk, all of the cream, and fish. Bring just to a boil and them simmer gently for 8 minutes. Lift the fish out with a slotted spoon and strain the cooking liquid into a jug. When the fish is cool enough to handle, break it into big flakes, discarding the skin and any bones. Sprinkle the fish over the base of a shallow 1.75 litre ovenproof dish.

Hard-boil the eggs for 8 minutes, then drain and leave to cool in cold water (so you don’t get ugly black rings). Peel and cut into chunky slices and arrange then on top of the fish.

Melt 50g of the butter in a pan, add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in the reserved liquid. Return it to the heat and bring to the boil slowly, stirring all the time. Leave it to simmer gently for 10 minutes to thicken and cook out the flour. Remove from the heat again, stir in the parsley and season with nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Pour the sauce over the fish and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

Boil the potatoes until tender. Drain, mash and add the rest of the butter and the egg yolk. Season with salt and white pepper and beat in enough of the milk to form a soft mash that you can spread.

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6. Spoon the potato over the filling and mark the surface with a fork. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until piping hot and golden brown.

Wine Suggestion: keep it simple and try a dry and minerally Muscadet. There are some great examples of Muscadet around at the moment and for not much money so it’s worth a try with any other seafood too.

(Original recipe from Rick Stein’s Seafood, BBC Books, 2001.)

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