Who can resist a comforting home-made pie? A pie can be very grand and can be used to impress guests at a dinner party; or it can be the ultimate comfort dish using left-overs served to your family.
If you can’t be bothered to make your own pastry there are some good puff and short crust pastries available in the freezer section of your supermarket.
Having a roll handy in your freezer will enable you to whip up a delicious pie in the time it takes for the pastry to defrost.
Short crust pastry is also perfect and can be both sweet, with the addition of a little sugar to the basic recipe, or savoury. Often the version without sugar is interchangeable with the sweetness in a filling making up for any lack of sugar in the pastry.
The only trick with all pastries used for pies is to make sure that it does not shrink when baked, as this can either leave your filling peeling over the sides and under the pastry, or you are left with a shrivelled up lid that doesn’t quite cover the filling. If you remember to never stretch your pastry to fit the dish, and chill it well before baking, you shouldn’t have a problem
Lamb shank pies
Makes 4-6
45ml olive oil
4 small lamb shanks
1 large onion, chopped
250ml chopped celery
125g baby carrots
15ml chopped garlic
30ml flour
30ml tomato paste
60ml balsamic vinegar
250ml red wine
500ml beef stock
2 sprigs of rosemary
a handful fresh thyme
salt and pepper
2-3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
500g roll of puff pastry
beaten egg for glazing
In a large ovenproof casserole, heat the oil and brown the lamb shanks. Remove and set aside.
Add the onion, celery,carrots and garlic and fry over a medium heat until onion is soft. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Combine the tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, wine and stock and mix well. Add this into the vegetables and stir well.
Return the shanks to the pot and add the herbs and season well. Cover and place in the oven at 160°C for 2-3 hours.
After about 2½ hours add the potatoes to the pot and add more stock if it is drying out. Return to the oven and cook until the meat is very soft and falling from the bone. Remove and cool completely. Take all the meat off the bones and clean the bones as well as possible. Remove all the herb stalks.
Divide the meat and vegetables between 6 individual containers or one large pie dish. For individual pies, insert a clean shank bone in the centre of the dish.
Unroll the puff pastry and roll it out slightly, this will allow you to get 6 discs out. Cut out circles of pastry about 1.5cm larger than the dish opening. Brush the rim of the dish with beaten egg. Cut a cross in the middle of the pastry and slide it over the bone and press it onto the rim of the dish. Brush with beaten egg. Chill well before baking at 200°C for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden.
Apple and blueberry pie
Pastry
500ml flour
60ml castor sugar
180g butter
1 egg, beaten
ice water to mix
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Filling
800g tin pie apples
80ml-100ml castor sugar
grated rind of 1 lemon
grated rind of 1 orange
30ml lemon juice
10ml ground cinnamon
30ml flour
15ml tapioca
125g fresh or frozen blueberries
1 egg yolk, beaten
45ml smooth apricot jam, melted
Pastry: Place the flour and castor sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and enough ice water to bring the mixture together to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Cut about a quarter of the dough off and set aside. Roll out the remaining dough into a circle large enough to fit a 25cm pie plate. Brush the pastry with egg white.
Filling: Combine the apples, sugar, lemon and orange rind, lemon juice, cinnamon, flour and tapioca and mix well. Fold in the blueberries. Pile into the pie plate.
Roll the remaining pastry out into a rectangle and cut out 1.5cm thick strips. Brush the rim of the pastry with beaten egg. Arrange the strips over the filling in a lattice pattern. Brush the top with beaten egg and bake at 180°C for 40-50 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and brush the pie with warmed apricot jam.
Delicious served warm with whipped cream.
Sunday Tribune