A slightly gourmet take on the traditional Aussie pie. Of course you can serve it will some good old tomato sauce, however it’s quite delicious with the mint and jalapeno chutney suggested below.
Serve with green salad. Serves 4.
Meat Filling
4 tablespoons of flour
1.25 kg of lamb, cubed
¼ cup of unsalted butter
dash extra virgin olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 tbspn fresh thyme, finely chopped
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup peas (frozen peas are fine)
1 ¼ cup of red wine
1 ¼ cup of beef stock
2 tbspn of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
Crust
1 cup of cold unsalted butter, cubed
2 ½ cups of plain flour
½ tspn of salt
5 -6 tbspn of ice water
Mint and Jalapeno Chutney
1 Jalapeno, seeded
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbspn fresh grated ginger
1/2 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt (not low fat)
2 tspn lime juice
1 tspn sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 18 degrees C (350 F). Coat lamb in flour and some black pepper (putting flour, pepper and meat in a plastic bag and shaking it is effective).
In a large pan, melt butter with a dash of olive oil. Saute onions over a medium heat until they are soft but not brown. Add the meat (including extra flour from coating) and cook quickly until browned (5-10 mins). Add mushrooms, peas (if using frozen rinse the peas first to remove ice from freezer) and thyme and cook for another few minutes, then add the wine, stock and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until well combined, turning up the heat until the mixture is bubbling. Transfer to a large oven proof dish and cover. Bake for 1.5 hours.
While the meat is cooking, make the pastry. Mix together salt and flour adding the butter and mixing with your fingers. Make sure you don’t overwork – it should resemble a fine meal. Add the ice water a little bit at a time until the pastry consistency is correct. Make into a ball, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
Then make the chutney by whizzing all the ingredients together – except the yoghurt – until smooth. Fold in the yoghurt and refrigerate until serving time.
Take the meat out of the oven (if it’s too runny, stir in 1-2 tbspns cornflour; if too dry add a dash more wine) and increase temperature to 200 degrees C (400 F). Put the meat in a large pie dish (or into small ramekins – it should be enough for about 4, depending on the size of the ramekin). Roll the pastry out between sheets of wax paper – it should be about 1/8 inch thick. Lay the pastry on the pie dish and trim the edges. Put a few small holes in the top. Bake for 30-35 mins until pastry is golden brown. Allow to stand for 5 mins before serving.