members recipes

Ingredients
Makes 9 little pies

500g ready roll puff pastry (or use shortcrust if you prefer)
450g braising steak, cut into small chunks
approx 10 small mushrooms, cut into small chunks
1 large onion, finely chopped
about 800ml beef stock
1 tbsp worcester sauce (or use soya sauce)
1 bay leaf
4 allspice berries (put in a muslin bag or tea egg so
you can remove it at the end of cooking)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsps cornflour mixed with a little water (for thickening later)
A few tbsps of oil, for frying

Method
1. Heat the oil in a heavy based pan. Fry the steak over a medium heat till
browned on all sides. Remove from the pan.
2. Add the onions to the pan and fry gently for about 6-8mins, till golden.
3. Add the mushrooms and fry for a couple of minutes only.
4. Next add the meat, 500ml of stock, worcester sauce and the spices. Pop the lid on and let the meat cook gently for approx 1.5 - 2 hours, or until it's very tender.
5. Check occasionally to make sure it doesn't dry out too much...you can
add more stock if necessary, letting it evaporate before adding more stock
(this will give the gravy a rich, meaty flavour and it will also thicken slightly
towards the end of cooking). Remove the allspice and bay leaf before
thickening the sauce.
6. When its finished cooking, add as much of the cornflour mixture as you need
to make a thick sauce, letting it simmer for a couple of minutes.
7. Allow to cool completely.

Now you can use the filling to make little pies (or one large one) or make pasties if you prefer. I didn't have any little pie dishes so i just used a muffin tin instead and baked the pies at 200C for approx. 20mins.