Bargain Steak and Kiddiley Pie

The Lovely Boy went to Mr T’s yesterday evening and rinsed the reduced shelf. He managed to get a £3.50 packet of steak and kidney, ready chopped, for 52p – bargain! However, this meant I was obliged to make a steak and kidney pie today. I knew that the dish I had available was a bit big, so added some veg in there to bulk it out also (some of my other pyrex bakeware is at a friend, having taken desserts over there the other week).

As ever, I have no idea of quantities, because I don’t measure stuff, I just cook! But if you want to attempt to make a pie like mine – and it was really, really nice so I don’t know why you wouldn’t – then here’s how to have a stab at it.

Filling Ingredients –

A packet of Tesco cubed beef steak and kidney (with the two meats in separate sections)
Plain flour for dusting the meat
Optional – couple of cubes of good quality chorizo
2 medium onions, sliced
3 cloves of garlic
1 carrot, finely cubed
1 small courgette, finely cubed
Squirt of tomato puree
Beef stock cube
Splash of boiling water
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

Pastry ingredients –

About 300g plain flour
Just over half the amount of butter
1 egg
Splash of cold water to bind

Dust the meat with flour and tap off the excess. Brown the steak off in a hot pan, then add the onions to soften. Move this to one side and brown the kidney off in the same pan. Add the carrots, courgettes, garlic, chorizo and lightly saute. Once it has all started to soften, add a good squiry of tomato puree and let this cook out. You could add a splash of red wine at this point also. Add the stock cube and rosemary and a good splash – 1/2 pint or so – of boiling water. Allow to simmer while you make the pastry.

Put pastry ingredients in the blender. Add the water A DROP AT A TIME as necessary to make the pastry come together into a ball, but not be too sticky. Chill briefly in fridge while your filling is simmering. If the sauce hasn’t thickened up enough, add a bit of gravy browning. When the filling is ready, turn off the heat and roll out the pastry to fit your pastry dish and with a lid. Put the pastry in the dish, pour in the filling and slap the lid on top. Stick a hole in the middle to let the steam out and add an egg wash. Throw it in a 180-200’C ish oven for about 40 minutes. Just enough time to prepare some mash and veg to go with it. Nom.