In a previous post I talked about how I like to use leftovers in a variety of ways to create meals for my family.
Pies
are a great way to make something tasty out of food that you might have remaining
from a previous meal. By making a simple sauce and including a few vegetables,
you can transform what otherwise might lurk around in the fridge until you
inevitably end up throwing it away. For example, if I have some of the meat
leftover after making a roast chicken, I use the bones from the chicken carcass
along with a few basic vegetables to make a stock from which I make a tasty
sauce into which I put mouth-sized pieces of the chicken meat and add a few
sautéed mushrooms or leeks. I then pile
this into a pie dish and top it with flaky, puff or shortcrust pastry and bake
in the oven.
The pie recipe that I give here uses up
some of the Beef and Guinness Stew that I have previously written about. It
really does make a delicious pie and is so simple to make.
You can use
shop-bought puff or shortcrust pastry and whilst it is a bit of palaver to make
authentic puff pastry at home, shortcrust pastry is quick to make and home-made
tastes so much nicer that the mass-produced versions that are available in the
supermarket. To be honest, I prefer to use a puff or flaky pastry when making
savoury pies, but that is just a personal preference. The whole point is that
with a little planning it is actually far simpler than you might think to
create tasty nutritious meals rather than resorting to ringing the take-away or
sticking a ready-meal in the microwave.
Given my liking of puff pastry but my
hatred of the time that it takes to make puff pastry, I was delighted to
discover this recipe for quick flaky pastry many years ago. I can’t remember
where I got it from, but I suspect that it may have come from a “Delia” book!
Ingredients:
225g plain flour155g butter, put in freezer to get really cold about an hour before you want to make the pastry
4 tblsp very cold water
1 egg beaten with a fork
Method:
1. Put the pastry into a large bowl. Using
the coarse side of a grater, grate the cold butter into the flour. Do not rub
in the butter but make sure that it is gently mixed through and coated in the
flour. Add the water and bring everything together until it just forms a bowl. You
will still be able to see flakes of the butter in the dough, but don’t worry
this is the way that it is meant to be. Briefly knead on a lightly floured work
surface. 2. Wrap the ball of pastry in cling-film and leave in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.
3. To make the pie, preheat the oven to 220C/Fan 200C/Gas Mark 6.
4. Pile your pie filling into a pie dish. Roll out the pastry until it is about 5mm thick, working it as little as possible.
5. Cut a thin strip of the pastry, about 1.5cms wide and place on the rim of the pie dish. Put a thin strip of pastry around the rim and using a pastry brush, paint with a little of the beaten egg. Next place the rest of the pastry on top of the pie and the pastry rim. Trim with a knife to give a neat finish and crimp the edges. Any leftover pastry can be quickly cut into leaf shapes and used to decorate the top of the pie.
6. Place in the preheated oven for approximately half an hour until the filling is piping hot and the pastry risen and golden on top.
Serves 4
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