Monday, May 04, 2009

Meat Pie Recipe



A shortcrust pastry base and puff pastry lid enclose tender pieces of beef in a flavoursome gravy.

The amount of red wine in the filling could be increased if you would like the pies to have a strong red wine flavour (reduce the water or stock by a corresponding amount).

Preparation time: about 1 hour 15 minutes (excludes simmering and baking times)

Makes 6 single-serve pies.

We use a 20ml tablespoon and 250ml measuring cup for all of our recipes.

40ml (2 tablespoons) oil
1kg trimmed beef chuck or shin, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large (about 200g) onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
24g (1 tablespoon) tomato paste
83ml (1/3 cup) red wine
375ml (1 1/2 cups) beef stock (we use a low salt stock)
375ml (1 1/2 cups) water
20ml (1 tablespoon) worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste
24g (2 tablespoons) cornflour (cornstarch)
40ml (2 tablespoons) water
2-3 sheets puff pastry, thawed (we use sheets that measure about 25cm by 25cm)
4 sheets shortcrust pastry, thawed (we use sheets that measure about 25cm by 25cm)

We brown the meat in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pot. If you need to brown the meat in more than two batches, ignore the suggested oil and meat quantities in the following paragraph and divide 1 3/4 tablespoons oil among the batches (the remaining teaspoon of oil is used when cooking the onion).

Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan or stockpot over high heat. Add half the meat and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned (about six to seven minutes). Transfer browned meat to a bowl. Add three teaspoons of the remaining oil to the pot and brown remaining meat. Transfer second batch of meat to the bowl with the first batch.

Return pot to the heat, reduce heat to medium-low, and add the last teaspoon of oil. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently and scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pot. When the onion has softened and lightly browned, add garlic and tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute.

Stir in red wine. Add stock, 375ml (1 1/2 cups) water, worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, meat, salt and pepper.

Stir to combine.

Increase heat to high and bring mixture to the boil.

Cover and reduce heat to low so the mixture is just simmering. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 1/2 hours or until the meat is very tender. Remove the lid and simmer for a further 30 minutes or so, until the meat is barely covered by the liquid (when you remove the lid, you may need to increase the heat slightly to maintain a simmer).

Stir the cornflour and the 40ml (2 tablespoons) water together in a small bowl until well combined. Stir into the meat mixture.

Cook, stirring, until the mixture comes back to the simmer. Simmer for one minute. © exclusivelyfood.com.au

Remove meat mixture from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl or leave in the cooking pot. Remove bay leaves. Cover and refrigerate mixture until completely cold.

When ready to cook the pies, preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan-forced). If you are not using a fan-forced oven, adjust the oven rack to the lowest position; the pastry bases will brown better if they are close to the bottom element.

Grease six non-stick individual-serve pie tins with butter. We use 3cm deep pie tins that measure about 7.5cm across the base and about 12.5cm across the top (including the rim).

Invert pie tins on puff pastry and cut around the tins to form the lids of the pies. Place pastry lids in a single layer, and cover with a damp, clean tea towel to prevent them drying out.

Invert pie tins on shortcrust pastry and cut around the pie tins about 1.5cm from the edges of the tins.

Ease shortcrust pastry rounds into pie tins. If you can see air bubbles under the pastry, lift some of the pastry away from the tin and push the air out with your fingers.

Divide meat mixture evenly among pastry bases.

Brush rims of pastry bases with water and cover pies with puff pastry lids.

Using a fork, firmly press around the edge of each pie lid to join lid to base.

Use a sharp knife to trim any pastry overhanging the tins.

Use the point of the knife to make a few small cuts in each pastry lid. At this point, the pies could be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and cooked later.

If desired, brush tops of pies with a little beaten egg to give the cooked pies a deeper golden colour.

Bake pies for about 35-40 minutes, or until the tops and bases are golden brown.

Store any leftover pies in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Suitable to freeze.
© www.exclusivelyfood.com.au


28 Comments:

Anonymous Natasha said...

mmmm, I love homemade meat pies!
Where did you get your tins from? I've never seen any in the shops or on ebay?! I always have to make mini-pies in my muffin trays, and they're just not the same!

5/5/09 12:10 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

Hi Natasha

The pie tins should be available from most kitchenware shops.

5/5/09 12:48 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

just wondering if i wanted to freeze these at what stage is best? before puttin it in the oven? also when taking out of the freezer at what tempreture and for how long b best.

5/5/09 6:53 pm  
Blogger Namuelle said...

thanks for sharing this delicious recipe I really have to buy a Pie tin because tart pie are not too deep for this dish.
regards from France

6/5/09 2:07 am  
Anonymous Leila said...

Thanks for the recipe! Looks lovely!
I'd like to know if I were to omit the wine (due to religious reasons), is there anything i can use to substitute it with?

6/5/09 12:14 pm  
Anonymous Riel said...

I tried this delicious recipe. It's hard to explain that it was so good.
Yummy!

8/5/09 5:48 am  
Anonymous Suzie said...

Hi girls, I want to make one large pie as I don't have individual pie tins will I need to adjust quantities or cooking times? My pie tin is about 22cm diameter and about 5cm deep. Also I have a gas oven and never have much sucess when cooking pastry, any suggestions? Love your website!!

8/5/09 1:10 pm  
Blogger The Travelling Whisk said...

Could you make these without the wine?

I have a friend who's a recovering alcoholic and I don't think he'd appreciate being pushed off the wagon. :D

10/5/09 3:21 pm  
Anonymous Jen said...

I love this recipe - thank you so much! Just curious though, why would you suggest to cool the meat mixture until cold before making it into a pie? Does this help strengthen the flavour?

Thanks

10/5/09 10:12 pm  
Blogger Rose said...

Thank you Amanda and Debbie. I came here for your beef and red wine pie receipe to make for my birthday dinner tonight. You gave me a present of a lovely new recipe! Thank you!

11/5/09 10:29 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

H Amanda & Debbie, thanks for the beautiful recipe. I've made it, the filling was really nice, but why the base of the pie wasn't cook at all (the shortcut pastry) while the top part (puff pastry) already turning golden brown? I've follow every instruction correctly and i also use the same tin as yours. Thanks in advance for your advice.

13/5/09 1:19 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I made this for my family tonight and my husband absolutely loved it. Said it was the best pie he'd had in a while. Every time I have made one of your recipes it's turned out a WINNER. Thank you

10/6/09 7:40 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi

Do the pies freeze better raw or once cooked?

Thanks
Jen

14/7/09 2:04 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These meat pies were to die for! So delicious ... but make sure your pie tins are a depth of 2cm! I accidently bought 4cm depth ones (all the other dimensions were correct) and couldn't work out why I was having so much trouble with getting the pastry into the tin!! Worked it out after we ate the pies. Nonetheless the pies still turned out nicely even though they towered on the plate!!!

29/7/09 10:23 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I tried this recipe after finding some sub standard items (possibly lungs) in a store bought pie.

This is a delicious recipe, though I did substitute the wine for additional stock and i halved the recipe to make one large pie.

I'll never buy another meat pie again.

1/8/09 3:01 pm  
Anonymous Katherine Wilson said...

All I can say is that I have a very picky 10 year old boy who doesn't like any meat pie or sausage roll. His comment when I made this tonight was "Although the meat looks disgusting - when you put it in your mouth it explodes with flavor!" He then asked if I made extras so that he can have them for breakfast and dinner tomorrow night. I used oblong pie tins that made them fun. Of course I will be making this recipe again!

1/9/09 7:33 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

Hi Anonymous

If we are going to freeze the pies, we do the following:
1) Reduce the initial baking time to 25 minutes.
2) Allow the pies to cool slightly, and then refrigerate until cold.
3) Remove pies from tins.
4) Wrap pies individually in plastic wrap, place in an airtight container and freeze.
5) Completely thaw pies in the refrigerator before baking.
6) Place unwrapped pies on a baking tray and bake at 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan-forced) for about 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the filling is hot.

23/9/09 4:35 pm  
Blogger Amanda and Debbie said...

Hi Leila and Bek

You could omit the wine without replacing it with another ingredient.

19/10/09 12:03 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi,
just made the pies and they are baking now,but just wondering, whenever i have made pies, i have a huge amount of wasted pastry! How do you get around this?

Cheers

25/4/10 6:16 pm  
Anonymous Mandy said...

This recipe is delicious!! Ok I did cheat a little and made one large pie without the shortcrust base but it didn't last long in my house.
Thanks Debbie and Amanda

15/6/10 10:54 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I made this last week. My husband was meant to take the leftovers for work the next day but said it was so good he had to eat it all there and then.!

20/6/10 7:05 pm  
Anonymous Carlie said...

absolutely delicious~

20/6/10 7:07 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh em gee!
made this the other night - went faster then hot cakes!

thanks for yet another flawless recipe!

25/6/11 11:02 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I made this tonight and was great! i doubled the tomato paste and worstoshire sauce and used beef mince.I also made 1 big pie.The whole family loved it! This recipe is definately a keeper,next time i think i will skip the puff pastry and top it with cheese and tomato to make a pizza pie :) :)

29/7/11 9:30 pm  
Blogger Kat said...

I made these tonight for my boyfriend and he loved them. I also made a vegetarian version for myself and it also worked out great. Thanks!

26/9/11 6:55 pm  
Blogger Mich B said...

Definitely worth the time it took to make these pies. I started the browning of the meat and simmering stages earlier in the day. It then took quite a while for the meat to cool in the fridge. I assembled the pies just before putting them in the oven for dinner. Wow they looked fantastic, just like a bought pie, and tasted awesome, so much better than a bought pie and my partner thought they tasted pretty good too. Extras are individually wrapped in cling wrap in the freezer for another day. Thanks for another great recipe. I agree we other posters, every recipe I try from your website turns out perfect!! ☺

30/8/12 11:51 am  
Blogger mel said...

Do any of the quantities or cooking times need to change if using mince meat? Thanks

10/10/12 6:06 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hi ladies,

Do you think this will work with cooked meat (I have left over roast beef). Cheers

1/12/17 8:29 am  

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