Homemade Pie, Mash and Mushy Peas

Homemade beef and vegetable pie with mashed potatoes and mushy peas

Pie, mash and mushy peas is a classic British dish, often associated with the sadly now largely gone pie and mash houses of the East End of London. The concept varies slightly depending upon location and interpretation and in the previously referred to retail outlets, the pie and mash was (and in a small few places still is) often served with jellied eels and liquor. The pie in this instance was filled with shin beef and vegetable stew which must be firstly prepared and then left to cool before the pie can be assembled. It may be a good idea therefore to plan this dish in advance, make the stew one night, leave it to cool and refrigerate it overnight in preparation for making and serving the pie the following evening for dinner.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1/2 pound (225g) shin beef
2 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
Salt and black pepper
1 medium carrot
1 stick of celery
1/2 medium white onion
1 pint fresh beef stock
10 ounces (250g) puff pastry
Flour for rolling pastry
Butter
1 large egg
3 medium to large baking potatoes
14 ounce (400g) can of mushy peas*
Malt vinegar

*You can of course make the mushy peas yourself but I personally find steeping the dried peas and the whole process more trouble than it is generally worth and almost always go for the canned option

Diced shin beef ready for browning

Directions

It may be that you buy your beef already diced. If not, you want to chop it to around three-quarter inch (2cm) chunks. Pour the vegetable oil in to a large saucepan, add the beef and season with salt and pepper. Put the pan on to a medium heat and brown/seal the beef, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. This should take two to three minutes.

Vegetables are added to browned beef

Scrub, top, tail and dice moderately finely dice the carrot. Wash the celery stick, trim and chop to pieces around the same size as the carrot. Peel the onion half and slice fairly thinly. Add the prepared vegetables to the brown beef and stir well before pouring in the beef stock. Turn the heat up until the stock reaches a simmer then cover the pan and adjust the heat to achieve as gentle a simmer as possible for two to two and a half hours until the beef is super tender. Do check it every so often just to ensure the liquid level is not getting too low. In the unlikely event this should happen, simply add a little boiling water from your kettle.

Beef stew must be left to cool

When the beef stew is ready, it is imperative it be allowed to cool completely before the pies are assembled. If the stew is hot - or even warm - when it is added to the assembly, it will soak in to the pastry and the pies will collapse.
 

One third of the pastry is used to make the pie lid

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.

The pies should be assembled one at a time, using 5 ounces (125g) pastry in each instance. Lay the first portion of pastry on a chopping board and cut one third of it to roll the lid with the remaining two-thirds to be used to form the base/body of the pie.

Pie dish is used as template for cutting lid

The small ceramic dishes used for assembling these pies are about 3 inches (7.5cm) in diameter and one inch (2.5cm) deep. It is important that you measure the diameter and depth as it will determine the size of the template required for cutting the pastry circle that forms the main body of each pie.

Start by rolling out the lid portion of pastry on a floured board to an approximate square just slightly larger than the upper diameter of the pie dish. The dish can then be used as a template to cut the lid for the pie.

Suitable larger utensil is used to cut pie base and body

You may have to rake through your kitchen cupboards/closets to find a suitable template for cutting the body portion of each pie. You want a circular item around one inch (2.5cm) larger in diameter than the sum of the diameter plus twice the depth of the pie dish.

Roll out the body portion of the pastry to a square just larger than the template you will be using then cut the circle from the pastry in the same way as before.

Pastry discs ready for assembling pie

The inside of the pie dishes require to be greased with some butter. This is to ensure the pies can easily be removed when cooked.

Pie body pastry disc is fitted in to pie dish

The larger circle should be placed in the pie dish and carefully pressed in place to ensure it touches the edges of the dish all round. There should be a slight, regular overhang all the way around.

Cooled beef stew filling is spooned in to pie dish

Spoon enough of the cooled stew in to the dish to almost but not quite reach the brim. Do be sure to include a little gravy to keep the meat moist but not so much that the pastry will become soggy. A tablespoon or so per pie is about right.

Lid is fitted on to pie and glazed with beaten egg

Lay the lid on the pie, tuck it in carefully around the edges and glaze with beaten egg.

Crimped and glazed pie is ready for the oven

Carefully fold over and crimp the pie edges around the perimeter of the lid. Glaze with more beaten egg and cut a small steam vent in the centre with the tip of a sharp knife. Place the pies on a baking tray and in to the oven for thirty to thirty-five minutes until the pastry is beautifully golden.

When the pies are around half way through their cooking time, peel the potatoes and chop to around one and a half inch (4cm) chunks. Do not cut them too small or they will absorb too much water and you will have soggy mash. Place in a large pot of cold water, season with salt and bring to a simmer for twenty to twenty-five minutes until just softened.

Mushy peas are re-heated in a small saucepan

When the pies are ready, take them from the oven and set them aside (still in the dishes) to rest while you finish the preparation of the mash and mushy peas.

Drain the potatoes when they are softened through a colander at your sink and leave them to steam off for a few minutes. This gets rid of the excess moisture and is a further means of preventing soggy mash.

Pour the mushy peas in to a saucepan and gently heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. They will only take a few minutes. Season with black pepper and malt vinegar.

Potatoes are hand mashed with butter

Put the potatoes back in to the empty pot and add some butter. Mash with a hand masher.

Mash and mushy peas are plated

Divide the mash and the mushy peas between two serving plates. Carefully loosen the pies around the edges with a blunt edged knife before tipping them carefully out of the dishes in to your hand (protected by a cloth). Lay a pie on each plate and serve immediately.

Pie is plated with mash and mushy peas

World Cup Food Recipes - Iran

Iranian celery stew (Khoresht Karafs) with rice

Iran started their world cup campaign today against Nigeria. Sadly, it was the dreaded arrival of the first poor game of the tournament with the two sides doing very little to contribute to a "yawn-athon" of a match that - not surprisingly - finished goalless. Fortunately, Iranian/Persian food is far more interesting with the region's dishes typically offering fresh fruits and vegetables in abundance, meats such as lamb, goat, chicken and beef, as well as a wide variety of delicious herbs and spices that can take any meal to whole new levels of tastiness.

Iranian Celery Stew (Khoresht Karafs) Recipe

This recipe focuses largely on celery (as the name would suggest) and meat. It also regularly calls for the addition of mint as one of the herbs but I have deliberately omitted the mint, as I don't personally believe it is a herb which complements beef. If I were making this dish with lamb - or even goat - I would definitely add mint as well as the other herbs but this is all of course down to personal preference and the mint can be added if you wish, in similar quantities to the parsley and celery leaf.
 

Shin of beef

Ingredients (Serves One)

1/2 pound piece shin of beef
4 tablespoons vegetable oil (2 for sauteeing beef and 2 for celery)
1/2 small white onion, peeled and sliced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon medium strength chilli powder
Salt and pepper
1 pint fresh beef stock
4 celery sticks
1 tablespoon roughly chopped celery leaf
1 tablespoon roughly chopped parsley (plus extra to garnish)
3 ounces basmati rice
Juice of half a lime

Diced shin of beef

Directions

Shin of beef is a cheaper cut of meat, simply because it is fatty and requires long, slow cooking. This puts a lot of people off buying it but I honestly can't understand why - give me shin of beef before fillet steak any day! It's far tastier and every bit as tender if cooked in the correct fashion.

The first mistake many make is in cutting off the fat before cooking. Don't do this. Fat is not only flavour, it keeps the meat moist during cooking and it will largely render down as the meat simmers. Instead, simply chop the shin of beef to approximate one inch cubes - fat and all - with a very sharp knife.

Shin of beef, onion and spices ready for sauteeing

Pour a couple of tablespoons of the vegtable oil in to a large stew pot. Add the shin of beef, the onion slices, the turmeric and the chilli powder. Season well with salt and particularly black pepper.

Sauteeing shin of beef with onion and spices

Sautee the beef, onion and spices for a couple or three minutes over a medium heat until the meat is well sealed. Add the beef stock, bring to a simmer, cover and simmer as gently as possible for two hours, stirring occasionally.

Celery, celery leaves and parsley

Wash the celery sticks and the herbs under running cold water in a colander. Trim the celery sticks and chop to approximately one inch pieces. Roughly chop the parsley and celery leaves.

Sauteeing celery and herbs

Pour two tablespoons of vegetable oil in to a saucepan and add the celery and herbs. Gently sautee for a couple of minutes.

Sauteed celery is added to stewed beef

Pour the celery mix in to the stewed beef and stir well. Continue to simmer uncovered for around twenty minutes until  the remaining stock forms a thick, lush sauce. Squeeze in the lime juice, stir well, taste and adjust seasoning if required.

Rice is washed before it is cooked

Wash the rice in a sieve under running cold water. Add to a deep pot of salted water and simmer for ten minutes. Drain through the sieve.
 

Rice bed for celery stew is formed

Lay the rice in one half of a stone serving dish (if available). Pile it high at one side, gently sloping towards the middle of the dish.

Celery stew is added to rice bed

Spoon the celery and beef stew in to the empty half of the serving dish and garnish with the remaining chopped parsley.

Beef and Tomato One Pot Stew

This beef and tomato stew is incredibly easy to make and is delicious perhaps particularly on a cold Winter's night but very much at any time of year. The only possible drawback with this one pot stew is that it does require a good couple of hours' cooking time. The good news, however, is that making it one night, cooling it, refrigerating it and reheating it (thoroughly) for dinner the next night gives the flavours additional time to infuse and makes it even more tasty. Try serving it with some warmed chunks of fresh, crusty bread.

The beef I have used in this recipe is shin of beef. That is not simply because shin of beef is one of the most inexpensive cuts of beef you can buy but very much because, when the time is taken to cook it properly, it is also one of the tastiest.

Ingredients for Two People

3/4lb shin of beef
1 14oz can of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
1 pint of fresh beef stock
1/2 medium white onion
1 green bell pepper
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp freshly chopped basil leaves (plus two small sprigs for garnish)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chop the shin of beef in to three-quarters to one inch chunks. Any excess fat can be discarded but do not trim off all the fat. It is the fat which will keep the beef moist and tender during cooking and which also contains a lot of the flavour. Heat the olive oil gently in a large stew pot and add the beef to brown, stirring it frequently with a wooden spoon for three or four minutes until completely and evenly sealed.

Finely slice the half onion and the garlic. Cut the green bell pepper in half and remove and discard the seeds and white inner membrane. Slice to a quarter inch thickness. Do note, however, that only half the pepper is incorporated in the stew and the remainder is reserved to garnish and add a little bit of crunch to the presented dish.

Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic to the beef. Stir well and cook for two to three minutes, while you heat the beef stock in a separate pot. Add the canned tomatoes to the mix, followed by the seasoning (salt and pepper) and beef stock and bring to a simmer.

It will take at least two hours, perhaps two and a half, for the shin of beef to become properly tender. Stir the stew occasionally during this time and watch that it is not becoming too thick and devoid of moisture. If necessary, add a little bit of boiling water as required, to ensure there is always some liquid present and that it does not burn.

When the beef is tender, add the chopped basil, stir through and cook for a further five minutes. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately, garnished with the remaining strips of bell pepper and sprigs of basil. Alternatively, cool and refrigerate for a quick and easy dinner the following evening.