Pimp My (Savoury) Pie

Gloomtastic!

Not sure if we have a Pie Club on here but if not, there should be!

I love pies, savoury pies!

Here's some chicken, bacon and mushroom beauties we made this morning.......

The Hill Billy

As agreed with Gloomtastic & others - this thread is now for all things related to savoury pies. So pop your pie & pastry recipies, pics, fave fillings, tips/tricks, etc. in here.

Happy cooking!

tHB

(For sweet pies - please use the Cakes & Bakes forum.)

maximo31

Hi Gloomtastic,
Would you have the recipe for these pies please? They look gorgeous!

Alun

Mmmmm, pies

Gloomtastic!

Pastry from Great British Bake Off Showstoppers book...

450g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp icing sugar
250g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
2 large free range egg yolks
5 tablespoons icy water
beaten egg to glaze
12 hole non stick muffin tray

Sift flour, salt and sugar and a pinch of pepper into a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix the yolks with the water and stir in with a round-bladed knife to bind to a just-firm dough, adding more water as necessary a spoonful at a time. Wrap and chill for 15 minutes.

The filling was just diced raw chicken breast, chopped up streaky bacon, mushrooms, some fresh thyme and salt/pepper. All mixed together in a bowl.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured worktop to the thickness of a pound coin (2 x 50c coins). Cut into 10 discs with a 11cm cutter, and 10 discs with a 7cm cutter for the lids.
Gently ease the larger disc in the muffin tray hole. Make sure the pastry is pressed neatly into the base and sides and there are no pockets of air.

Pack the filling into each pastry hole. Brush the edge of each pastry case with egg and press on the pastry lid. Seal with the back of a fork and chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180c.

Lightly brush the lids with egg glaze and make a small steam hole in the centre with the tip of a knife. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and allow to cool to allow the pastry to firm up. Remove carefully from each mould.

Enjoy!

The Hill Billy

Mrs Billy made me a Steak & Kidney pie as a treat at the weekend (after 2 incredibly crap weeks away at work). It cheered me up no end.

mike65

I'm going to join the pie club if the stuff I buy for next week doesn't end up as a stew (ie can I be arsed to make pastry?!)

Actually I did make a 'fish pie' last week - Haddock, halved boiled eggs, onions etc with a smashed spud and cheesy topping.

Winter warmers

(those pies in the OP look great)

Minder

Love steak and kidney pie. There is an old village bakers near our area office. I have this ritual where I go in there and say "Can I have a warm steak & kidney please?" To which she always says "Would you like it warmed up?" ?!? Very good pie...

Andre Salmon

Mmm pie. I made a Simon Hopkinson chicken leek and mushroom pie for dinner on Sunday. It turned out well. It's a bit of a time consuming recipe though.
Lunch for the last 2 days too

dipdip

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

The filling was just diced raw chicken breast, chopped up streaky bacon, mushrooms, some fresh thyme and salt/pepper. All mixed together in a bowl.

Would you not be tempted to make a creamy sauce for this kind of pie? I know I would. Your pastry looks fabulous.

Gloomtastic!

dipdip wrote: »

Would you not be tempted to make a creamy sauce for this kind of pie? I know I would. Your pastry looks fabulous.

The intention was to eat them cold. However, they did taste better warmed up. The pastry was great !

Kids love them too. Perfect for after school meal.

The Hill Billy

Hi folks:

Just a mod note on this...

It certainly looks like we have interest in pies in the forum. I doubt that having a Pie Club in a similar vein to The Cooking Club would be realistic. The Cooking Club takes quite a bit of work to keep going as it is.

However, what about changing the thread title to 'Pimp My Pie' or something similar? We could then use this thread for all things related to our fave savoury pies. Post #1 could be updated to reflect this.

Your thoughts...?

tHB

Andre Salmon

I had just managed to get my pie obsession under control.
Saw three pie recipes on the food channel last night, got the craving back.

blueshed

love my pies and find this book brilliant http://www.hairybikers.com/books/perfect-pies/1323

I tend to cheat a bit and buy my pastry in Aldi.

C.K Dexter Haven

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Hi folks:

Just a mod note on this...

It certainly looks like we have interest in pies in the forum. I doubt that having a Pie Club in a similar vein to The Cooking Club would be realistic. The Cooking Club takes quite a bit of work to keep going as it is.

However, what about changing the thread title to 'Pimp My Pie' or something similar? We could then use this thread for all things related to our fave savoury pies. Post #1 could be updated to reflect this.

Your thoughts...?

tHB

or "all things savoury pies" or similar- I.e as long as users can easily ID the thread as THE place for pies- sticking the thread for a few weeks might help, considering we're now in "pie season" given the cold weather,?

C.K Dexter Haven

blueshed wrote: »

love my pies and find this book brilliant http://www.hairybikers.com/books/perfect-pies/1323

I tend to cheat a bit and buy my pastry in Aldi.

I think the Hairy Bikers have really done their bit on pushing pies over the last year- I found some of the recipes are a little bland though so you need to adjust seasonings/ fillings to suit your own taste.

Faith

C.K Dexter Haven wrote: »

or "all things savoury pies" or similar- I.e as long as users can easily ID the thread as THE place for pies- sticking the thread for a few weeks might help, considering we're now in "pie season" given the cold weather,?

Counterintuitively, stickying a thread only makes people ignore it!

C.K Dexter Haven

Faith wrote: »

Counterintuitively, stickying a thread only makes people ignore it!

I bow to your experience on that one;)

the beer revolu

I made these pasties filled with North African spiced minced lamb, pinenuts, vegetables and fresh herbs. Very nice they were - so good I made then again this weekend.
The pastry is based on Hugh Wattelyybottom River's rough puff pastry made with lard. It's very easy and very good - somewhere between a short crust and a puff pastry. I added some buckwheat flour and spices to the pastry.

I'll post up the recipe for the pastry if anyone is interested.

Northern Monkey

Made some chicken and mushroom pies today

annamcmahon

the beer revolu wrote: »

I made these pasties filled with North African spiced minced lamb, pinenuts, vegetables and fresh herbs. Very nice they were - so good I made then again this weekend.
The pastry is based on Hugh Wattelyybottom River's rough puff pastry made with lard. It's very easy and very good - somewhere between a short crust and a puff pastry. I added some buckwheat flour and spices to the pastry.

I'll post up the recipe for the pastry if anyone is interested.

Please do

the beer revolu

annamcmahon wrote: »

I'll post up the recipe for the pastry if anyone is interested.

Please do

200g cold butter or lard cut into walnut sized pieces.
400g plain flour
pinch of salt
iced water.

toss the fat in the flour with the salt until coated then add a little iced water and bring the dough together with your hands adding no more water than you need to get a medium-firm dough that is not too sticky, with large pieces of the fat still intact in it.
On a well floured surface, shape the dough by hand into a fat rectangle and roll it out with a well floured rolling pin, rolling away from you in one direction only to keep the rectangular shape as much as you can. When the dough is 2cm thick (or less) fold the far third towards you and fold the near third back over that, so you now have a rectangle a third of the size and 3 times as thick. Give the pastry a quarter turn (90deg) to the right and roll it out again, away from you, into another long rectangle. Repeat the procedure of folding and turning at least 4 times, preferably 6 or 7 times. You will need to keep dusting with flour. Should the dough become too loose or sticky (a danger in warm or damp weather), chill it in the fridge for an hour or so, then dust with more flour and resume rolling. The finished pastry should be folded up a final time time and chilled for an hour before rolling out and using.

Brush with egg wash before baking.

I replace about 100g of the flour with buckwheat flour and for the above pasties. I add some lemon zest, chili flakes, black pepper and sumac to the mix too.
Tesco sell lard, near the butter.

annamcmahon

Thanks

Loire

Northern Monkey wrote: »

Made some chicken and mushroom pies today

They look great would you mind popping up the recipe?

Thanks,
Loire.

nicol

Any chance you could post up the recipe for the filling too?? They look delicious!!

the beer revolu wrote: »

I made these pasties filled with North African spiced minced lamb, pinenuts, vegetables and fresh herbs. Very nice they were - so good I made then again this weekend.
The pastry is based on Hugh Wattelyybottom River's rough puff pastry made with lard. It's very easy and very good - somewhere between a short crust and a puff pastry. I added some buckwheat flour and spices to the pastry.

I'll post up the recipe for the pastry if anyone is interested.

the beer revolu

nicol wrote: »

Any chance you could post up the recipe for the filling too?? They look delicious!!

No recipe but...
I used two frying pans ( 3 actually).

First thing, I chop up an courgette pretty small and put in a colander and generously salt it to remove some moisture. (I do this before making the pastry and do the mince while the pastry is chilling)

Dice a medium onion and put in a frying pan with a little olive oil over a medium heat.

Meanwhile, in another pan brown 500g of lamb mince really well - best in two batches. Add to the onions.

Chop up a few cloves of garlic and a thumb of ginger and add to the meat and onions.

Rinse and dry the courgette and brown it in well in the vacated meat pan. Add to the other pan.

In a dry pan toast a teaspoon each of coriander seed and cumin seed and black peppercorns, half a teaspoon of fennel seed and about 8 all spice berries. Grind these and add to your mix along with a pinch of saffron and a teaspoon of chilli flakes (mine are not very hot).

Peel about 4 large tomatoes, chop and add to the mix.
The mix should be fairly dry at this stage. keep stirring over a medium heat.
Here I add a few of my reduced frozen stock cubes but you could use a knor chicken stock pot and a small drop of water - just enough to loosen it a bit.

To this I add a bag of toasted pinenuts and a good big handfull of fresh herbs - I used marjoram, chives, flat leaf parsley and a little mint. If I didn't have fresh herbs I wouldn't use dried here. Don't cook in the herbs you want to keep the texture and don't be shy with them. If not putting in a pie, a load of chopped rocket is nice too with the herbs.
Check for salt.

I think that's about it.
It's good with flatbread too.

hardCopy

Today I got a delivery of five different savoury pies from my favourite manufacturer of savoury pies.

They also gave me a recipe book.

I think this will be a fat winter for me.

Gloomtastic!

Trip to the zoo today (thanks Bargain Alerts!) so Mrs Gloomster made.....

Breakfast pies!
Shop bought shortcrust pastry (nothing on the real thing) filled with cubes of black pudding, bits of smoked streaky bacon and egg lightly beaten with grated cheese poured on top. 25 minutes on 200c.
Ate them a couple of hours later while they were still warm, delicious!

frisbeeface

Are pies good for freezing? Would love to be have a supply to bring into work during the week!

MissFlitworth

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Ate them a couple of hours later while they were still warm, delicious!

Yeah, I've just bitten a lump out of my laptop screen and it didn't taste like That Pie and you owe me MUCH MONEY.

Whistlejacket

Best thread ever! I developed a serious pie habit while living in New Zealand a few years back and this has reawakened the hunger within....I'm now seriously craving an oozy steak and cheese pie with crumbly flakey pastry. I'm going to have to make a few!

Has anyone any experience with making pie pastry with lard? I have some lurking in the freezer from the last free range pig we killed and keep meaning to get around to rendering it in the slow oven for cooking and baking. I cook a lot but I would never describe myself as a natural baker. I have looked up a few recipes for lard pastry but have never actually tried it. Has anyone any practical advice, for example should it be used straight out of the fridge, like butter, when making pastry?

confusticated

frisbeeface wrote: »

Are pies good for freezing? Would love to be have a supply to bring into work during the week!

Depends on the pie I spose. I've frozen beef and mushroom ones (from the cooking club) but they're made with shortcrust pastry which freezes and defrosts pretty well. Dunno how a puff pastry one would go.

Animord

I made something called a Kerry pie years ago with hot water pastry, I am sure it was a Darina Allen recipe. It was really good, I am sure it had something odd in it though like cumin seeds or fennel seeds, (not that they are odd obviously but I don't naturally associate either of them with Kerry!)

Does anyone know what I am talking about, I have tried googling but can't find it.

the beer revolu

Whistlejacket wrote: »

Has anyone any experience with making pie pastry with lard? I have some lurking in the freezer from the last free range pig we killed and keep meaning to get around to rendering it in the slow oven for cooking and baking.

I posted a recipe above for rough puff pastry using lard - straight from the fridge just like butter.

Dizzyblonde

Animord wrote: »

I made something called a Kerry pie years ago with hot water pastry, I am sure it was a Darina Allen recipe. It was really good, I am sure it had something odd in it though like cumin seeds or fennel seeds, (not that they are odd obviously but I don't naturally associate either of them with Kerry!)

Does anyone know what I am talking about, I have tried googling but can't find it.

I did a quick google and found it here, if this is the one you mean: http://mominthegarden.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/celebrating-st-patricks-day-with-kerry-pie/

Animord

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I did a quick google and found it here, if this is the one you mean: http://mominthegarden.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/celebrating-st-patricks-day-with-kerry-pie/

Thanks, yes and no - there was definitely something unexpected in it. But the basic pie was like that. I will look back at recipes I have to see if I can find it. The hot water crust pastry was really good though!

Andre Salmon

Whistlejacket wrote: »

Best thread ever! I developed a serious pie habit while living in New Zealand a few years back and this has reawakened the hunger within....I'm now seriously craving an oozy steak and cheese pie with crumbly flakey pastry. I'm going to have to make a few!

I was in NZ for my brothers wedding a few years ago with the wife and kids.
I developed an addiction to steak pies for breakfast every morning.
We were there for nearly a month and I was on about 3 pies a day by the time we left!

davidm20

Brilliant, but in my world....where there a pie there must be gravy, so here's my contribution

Best gravy ever

http://britishfood.about.com/od/recipeindex/r/oniongravy.htm

Dave

Northern Monkey

Loire wrote: »

They look great would you mind popping up the recipe?

Thanks,
Loire.

I sort of made it up as I went along, but off the top of my head:

1 (large) knob of butter
250g mushrooms
1 diced onion
2 crushed cloves garlic
Cooked chicken diced into pieces(I used pretty much a full medium sized chicken)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons flour
500ml chicken stock
200 ml crème fraiche
1 packet of shop bought puff pastry
Salt and pepper

I cooked off the onions, mushrooms and garlic in the butter, then added the flour and mustard, gradually stirring in the stock.

I then added the chicken and let the liquid reduce a little. Once reduced I stirred in the crème fraiche and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

I left it aside to cool and then made the pies using shop bought puff pastry (used a jumbo muffin tin for the small ones).

40 minutes in the oven with a little egg wash and that was it done.

emaleth

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Trip to the zoo today (thanks Bargain Alerts!) so Mrs Gloomster made.....

Breakfast pies!
Shop bought shortcrust pastry (nothing on the real thing) filled with cubes of black pudding, bits of smoked streaky bacon and egg lightly beaten with grated cheese poured on top. 25 minutes on 200c.
Ate them a couple of hours later while they were still warm, delicious!

Good on the Gloom household - we went to the zoo ourselves on Sunday, along with everyone else in Dublin waving their little printouts, and I made these to take with. They were AWESOME. I made the pastry (4 oz plain flour, 4 oz butter, ice water) and filled them with Clonakilty black pudding, maple smoked streaky bacon, beaten egg and a healthy dose of Parmesan. If anyone was concerned at the two grown adults making moaning noises outside the South African house, it was us having brunch and we're sorry

mike65

Will be making a beef, mushroom, onion, pea and carrot pie tomorrow.

Wish me luck.

mike65

mike65 wrote: »

Will be making a beef, mushroom, onion, pea and carrot pie tomorrow.

Wish me luck.

Did this, alas no pictures due to camera failure but it looked remarkably like this



Diced beef, mushrooms, half onion, 2 large carrots, a few frozen peas, a celery stick, beef stock cube, a large splash of olive oil and some flour and flavourings and a *cough* ready made puff pasty *cough*. Its basically a bomb proof meal - hard to get wrong

Makes enough for two.

heat oil, throw in beef, brown it all over. Remove it from pan leaving in the juices. Add sliced veg (except mushrooms) simmer, add flour and stir it all until its thickened up, add the stock (one cube half pint) throw the beef back in and simmer the lot until most of the stock is reduced add sliced mushrooms for the last 5 minutes. While this going on make sure your pastry is ready to cover the cooking dish. Ladle the pan contents into the dish and place the pastry over, wash it with milk and pierce it in a couple of places - stick at bottom of top oven on 150c for 20 mins.

Gloomtastic!

Chopped up leftover turkey, ham and stuffing. Mixed with cranberry sauce, some chopped up parsley and a dash of port. All crammed into some shortcrust pastry and baked for 30 mins.

I've had three already this morning. It's Christmas in a pie!

blueshed

beef and mushroom pies for dinner today, along with baby potatoes cooked in the oven and mushy peas on the side.

the beer revolu

Encouraged by Mrs. Beer, the last couple of years, I've occasionally done steamed suet puddings/pies (not sure which is correct). While very different to shortcrust or puff pastry, the flavour and texture are fantastic.
I've pimped the basic recipe by variously adding chopped herbs and, in this last one, a portion of buckwheat flour.
Also, because the pastry isn't crispy to start with, they hold and reheat very well. They always seem to collapse on me when I turn them out, though .
Any proper butcher that actually butchers animals will have suet if you ask, though, they might need a couple of days notice. I haven't tried the boxed stuff you get in supermarkets.

This one is a chicken and veg pudding/pie.

Northern Monkey

Made a chicken, leek and camembert tart over the weekend

Gloomtastic!

^ What did you top it with?

Northern Monkey

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

^ What did you top it with?

Cream, eggs and some nutmeg whisked together (the camembert is also there, but didn't melt through the top during cooking)

the beer revolu

Northern Monkey wrote: »

Cream, eggs and some nutmeg whisked together (the camembert is also there, but didn't melt through the top during cooking)

That is a really interesting take on a pie/tart.
Did you make it up or use a recipe?

Northern Monkey

It started out as a leek flamiche from Paul Hollywood's how to bake book, but I added chicken to it as everything tastes better with chicken

I can't find the exact recipie online, but this is pretty close:

http://thelobsterclub.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/light-summer-suppers-flamiche/

CJhaughey

Sounds like custard topping without sugar!