Sous Chef

Recently a young man called David commented on my blog, he said he has been following me since I did a series of budget meals. He has tried some of my recipes and has asked for that I feature some more cost cutting dishes. David you have no idea what positive feedback means to a food blogger, thank you very much. This ones for you, I hope you try it.

 These pies happened due to a cooling in the weather and I had bought some shin at a reasonable price.

I cooked my meat in my slow cooker, but you can do exactly the same on top of your stove (simmering slowly until cooked) or in your oven at a lowish heat 150/160.

450g shin on the bone

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 stick of celery chopped finely

450ml instant beef gravy

Black Pepper

A good shake of Worcestershire Sauce

I didn’t brown my meat, merely cut it into smallish cubes and placed all the ingredients in the pot. Don’t discard the centre bone, cook them as well, they add such taste to the gravy. I remove the bones after cooking and mash up the marrow and put it back in the gravy.

When the meat is tender, cool and the using a sieve separate the meat from the gravy, put both aside and make the pastry:-

2 cups cake flour (plain flour)

125mls butter

½ tsp salt

1 egg yolk

Iced water

Egg-wash for brushing over pies (1 egg mixed with a dash of milk)

This is the same pastry I used for my pork pies (another budget beater making 12 pork pies from one packet of sausages) it takes a little longer if making by hand, but if you have a mixer or a food processor it can speed things up.

Sift in the flour & salt mixture, and rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the egg yolk and then the ice cold water a little at a time until you form a dough.

Wrap the pastry in Clingfilm and pop in the fridge for 20 mins.

I prefer to work with half the pastry at a time, on a floured surface roll out the pastry. Now I have this nifty pie cruncher thingy, which is very handy but a saucer will also do the trick.

Cut out three circles and put aside, repeat with the remainder of the pastry.

Place a portion of your meat mix on one half of the pastry, brush the edge of the circle with a little water to help the sides adhere.

Fold the pastry over the meat and using a folk press the two sides together.

Place your six pies on a greased baking sheet.

Brush with egg-wash  and bake @180 until golden, approximately 20 – 30 minutes depending on your oven.

I estimate that this recipe cost approximately R32.00, costing in the meat, veggies, eggs & butter, the rest I consider staples that we all have in our cupboards. This recipe made 6 pies.