MEAT & VEGETABLE PIE

I had been searching for a hearty meat and vegetable pie recipe for what seemed like ages before I stumbled on one by Australian Women’s Weekly a few months ago. After spending 3 somewhat irritating hours in the kitchen chopping and stirring, the pie tasted out of this world. I have reduced the amount of beef by half and slightly increased the amount of vegetables that the original recipe called for. After cooking this pie three times I believe I have perfected the ingredients.

Now, I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you; this pie is a bitch to make. So it must only be attempted when you are A. trying to impress someone, B. have a lot of time on your hands, C. are cooking for a special occasion or D. all of the above. But trust me when I say that all the time in the kitchen and the epic clean up melted away when I had my first mouthful. 

Ingredients 

• 650g- 750g gravy beef, cut into 2cm pieces
• 50g butter
• 1 medium brown onion (150g), finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/4 cup (35g) plain flour
• 1 cup (250ml) dry white cooking wine 
• 3 cups (750ml) hot beef stock
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste 
• 2 trimmed celery stalks (200g), cut into 1cm pieces
• 2 large carrots (350g), cut into 1cm pieces
• 2 medium zucchinis (250g), cut into 1cm pieces
• 1 cup (120g) frozen peas
• 2 medium potatoes (450g), cut into 2cm pieces 
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 sheet reduced-fat puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten 
• 1 tablespoons olive oil

Cooking

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan and cook beef until browned all over. 

2. Remove the beef and melt the butter in the same pan. Cook onion and garlic, stirring, until onion is transparent. Add the flour and stir until mixture thickens. Pour in wine and stock and stir until until mixture boils. 

3. Return the beef to the pan and add the paste, celery, potato and carrot. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour. 

4. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius fan-forced. 

5. Add zucchini and peas and stir, uncovered, until beef is tender. This will take approximately 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the stove and stir in parsley. 

6. Pour mixture into a pie dish (the pie dish I used was 22cm x 22cm x 5.5cm depth). Brush the edges of the dish with egg. Top the pie with pastry sheet, pressing to seal along the edges of the dish. Trim pastry and brush with egg. 

7. Bake pie for approximately 20-25 minutes or until pastry is golden. 

Preparation time: 40 minutes 

Cooking time: 2 hours 

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