Minced Beef Pie

Method9 steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180°C fan / gas 6. Have a one-litre pie dish ready for the cooled filling and pastry lid.

2. 2

   Step 2: Heat all the vegetable oil (2 tbsp) in a deep frying pan. Fry all the raw minced beef (500 g) for four to five minutes, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it browns; the filling will continue cooking in the next stages.

   Brown and break up the minced beef · 5 minUses 2 tbsp vegetable oil · 500 g raw minced beef

3. 3

   Step 3: Peel and chop the onion (1) and clean and chop all the mushrooms (75 g). Add all the onion to the browned-mince pan and cook for two to three minutes. Stir in all the concentrated tomato purée (1 tbsp) and cook for two to three more minutes. Stir in the one and a half tablespoons of filling flour for one minute, then add all the mushrooms, prepared beef stock (250 ml) and a couple of dashes of the anchovy-containing Worcestershire sauce.

   Onion 2–3 min, purée 2–3 min, filling flour 1 min · 7 minUses All browned mince and retained frying oil · 1 onion, chopped in step 3 · 1 tbsp concentrated tomato purée · 1½ tbsp plain flour for thickening the filling · 75 g mushrooms, chopped in step 3 · 250 ml prepared liquid beef stock · A couple of dashes of anchovy-containing traditional Worcestershire sauce

4. 4

   Step 4: Bring the assembled filling to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for twenty minutes. Check the minced beef reaches at least 71°C / 160°F throughout. Take off the heat, let the filling cool enough for assembling the pastry lid, then transfer all the filling into the one-litre pie dish; refrigerate promptly if assembly is delayed.

   Simmer beef and mushroom filling · 20 minUses The complete filling pan

5. 5

   Step 5: Dust the work surface with the separate extra flour. Roll out the shortcrust pastry (400 g) until it is slightly larger than the pie dish, drape it over the cooked filling and press firmly onto the rim of the dish.

   Uses All cooked filling in its dish · 400 g ready-made shortcrust pastry for the lid and decorations · Extra plain flour to dust the work surface, as needed

6. 6

   Step 6: Trim the pastry overhang, saving the trimmings for decorations. Flute the edge of the pastry lid against the dish rim.

   Uses The complete lidded pie and its pastry overhang

7. 7

   Step 7: Beat the egg yolk (1) in a small bowl. Cut leaf-shaped decorations from the saved pastry trimmings and attach them to the lid with a little of the beaten yolk, retaining the rest of that same yolk for glazing.

   Uses The lidded pie and only its saved pastry trimmings · 1 egg yolk, beaten in step 7 and divided between decorations and glazing

8. 8

   Step 8: Make three or four steam slits in the lid, then brush it with the remaining beaten egg yolk. Bake at 200°C / 180°C fan / gas 6 for twenty to twenty-five minutes until golden brown and piping hot through the filling; if it was refrigerated, verify the centre reaches 74°C / 165°F.

   Bake pastry-lidded beef pie until golden and hot · 25 minUses The decorated pie plus only the remaining beaten yolk

9. 9

   Step 9: Slice the finished pie into wedges and serve as four portions.

   Uses The complete baked hot pie