Lamb Pie for British Pie Week

We all love a good hearty pie. It is such a fantastic winter meal that is a true comforting dish. This week is British Pie Week so it really would be rude not to celebrate with a pie!

When it came to deciding which type of pie to make I knew that I would find the perfect ingredients at Aldi. While I was shopping last week I saw some lovely lamb leg steaks that were so lean I could not resist. Lamb is a meat that we all enjoy but I simply do not use it as often as beef and chicken. Lamb can often be a more expensive meat and people often rave about New Zealand lamb but, personally, I prefer British lamb. Aldi stock 100% British lamb that carries the trusted red tractor logo and is at a fantastic price! When we buy British meat we are not only helping our economy but we are also reducing our carbon foot print and helping the environment!

The filling in today's pie recipe has been slow cooked so it really is full of flavour and the meat was so tender it literally fell apart. I have also used a rich pastry using eggs as I prefer the richer flavour and the golden colour you get as it bakes.

This is what I did...

Lamb Pie

Ingredients

Filling

300g lamb leg steaks, diced

2 leeks, trimmed and sliced

200g Chanteney carrots, halved
2 large closed cup mushrooms, peeled and chopped
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
500mls lamb stock
25g plain flour
Salt and pepper to season

Pastry

275g plain flour
137g salted butter, cut into cubes
1 egg
Pinch of salt
1 egg for brushing

Method

1 - To prepare the filling brown off the diced lamb with the leeks in a pan

2 - Once the meat has browned off transfer to a slow cooker, or if you are using the oven transfer to a casserole dish with a lid and heat the oven to 150C

3 - Add the carrots, chopped mushrooms, rosemary and plain flour and stir until all of the ingredients have a covering of flour

4 - Pour over the lamb stock and season

5 - Leave to cook over a high heat in the slow cooker for 4 hours or in the pre heated oven for the same amount of time

6 - Once the filling is cooked remove from the oven or slow cooker and allow to cool for an hour

7 - While the filling is cooling prepare the pastry but placing the flour in a large mixing bowl and adding the cubed butter

8 - This is the part of pastry making that I love. It is time to get your hands in! Rub the butter into the flour with a pinch of salt until you have a breadcrumb consistency

9 - Create a well in the middle of the butter and flour mixture and pour in one beaten egg

10 - Using either a spoon or your hands knead in the egg until you have a rough dough ball

11 - Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place on a floured top and knead together until you have a smooth finish to the dough, once it is smooth the gluten has had time to get to work!

12 - Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes

13 - Pre heat the oven to 200C

14 - Spoon the filling into a pie dish and remove the pastry from the fridge

15 - On a lightly floured worktop roll out the pastry to about 5mm thickness

16 - Cut off a thin strip of pastry to go round the edge of the pie dish, this will help to seal the filling in

17 - Gently lift and lay the covering piece of pastry on the top and carefully slice away any excess pastry from around the edges

18 - Using your fingers and thumbs crimp around the edges to seal, use any leftover pastry to decorate the top as you wish, beat the second egg and brush over the top, this will give your pie a fantastic golden finish

19 - Place the pie in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is a golden colour and serve with potatoes and vegetables

This pie was a delicious way to start British Pie Week. The only complaint that the hubby and children had was that there was not enough for seconds!

What pie will you be making for British Pie Week?

Enjoy x

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Disclosure: This is a collaborative post

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