Beef & Mushroom Pie

I find I can get get this pie in the oven in about 30 minutes, homemade crust and all. It is simple, fast and economical but if you make it the first time for convenience you’ll make it a second time just for the taste. I like to serve it with a side of mashed potatoes and sweet peas or green beans… no gravy needed.

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 Knorr beef stock cube dissolved in 3floz/100ml boiling hot water
• 3floz/100ml red wine
• 1 lb/450g lean ground (minced) beef
• 1 TBSP olive oil for frying
• 1 meduim onion, diced medium
• 1 TBSP finely diced garlic
• 8oz/250g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 TBSP tomato paste
• 1 tsp plain white all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• salt and pepper to taste

Crust

• 2 medium eggs
• 2 TBSP cold water
• 1 1/2 cup/225g plain white all purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• big pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup/115g cold butter, roughly diced

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375f/190c and get out a 9″/23cm loose bottom tart pan.
2. Combine the prepared stock with the wine and set aside until needed.
3. Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat, once hot add the beef and fry while breaking up and stirring until it is just browned. Pour the beef and all the fat it rendered into a strainer and leave to drain.
4. Put the frying pan back on the heat and let it heat up again, once hot add the olive oil and onions. Fry the onions for a few minutes until they start to soften.
5. Once the onions start to get soft, add the garlic and stir fry for another few minutes before adding the mushrooms. Fry the mushrooms until they give up their juices.
6. Add the drained beef back to the pan along with the tomato paste, flour and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Stir the mixture until the tomato paste and flour are distributed evenly into the beef and vegetables, then add the stock and wine mixture to the pan. Stir until well combined.
8. Take the frying pan off the heat and leave to cool while you make the crust.
9. Put the egg and water in a small bowl and whisk until well combined, set aside.
10. Put the flour, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse bread crumbs then add half the egg mixture and pulse again until the dough comes together, if it is too dry add a little cold water a teaspoon at a time.
11. Remove the dough from the food processor and wrap it in plastic wrap. Let rest in the fridge for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the dough from the fridge and cut off 1/3, re-wrap the 1/3 in the plastic wrap and set aside.
12. Roll out 2/3 of the dough to approximately a 11″/27cm round and line the tart pan with it, lightly pressing the dough into the pan sides and leaving the excess hanging over the edge.
13. Take the remaining 1/3 of the dough and roll out to approximately a 10″/25cm round for the top, leave it on the work surface till you need it.
14. Working quickly, spoon the filling to the tart pan and distribute it evenly. Then paint the bottom crust edge with some of the reserved beaten egg and water mixture. Put on the top crust and roll the excess of the top and bottom crusts over each other, then tuck just the edge it into the tart pan.
15. Using a fork, go around the tart and gently press down to seal and decorate the edges, then make 8 to 10 fork punctures in the top of the tart.
16. Brush the crust with the remaining egg and water mixture and place the tart in the preheated oven to bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
17. Remove the pie from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before taking it out of the tart pan and placing it on a serving plate.

Serve immediately – Serves 4 to 6

Notes

• If you want it to look like the picture (be able to serve it with out the tin) you need to use the crust in the recipe. If you don’t have a loose bottom tart pan, you can use a loose bottom 9″/23cm cake tin (like for a cheese cake) or just make it in a regular pie tin and serve it from the tin.
• I do not recommend using a store bought pie crust, but if you need to then just use a regular pie dish and don’t try to remove the pie to a serving dish because it will fall apart.