Minced Beef and Onion Pie, voted one of the top 5 most popular savory pies, made with lean minced beef and plenty of onions all brought together in a rich brown sauce, piled under a buttery flaky crust, this Pie, served with creamy mashed potatoes and garden peas will make a meal to die for.
Minced Beef and Onion Pie
Course: Main CourseCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Not hard4
servings10
minutes1
hour15
minutes805
kcal15
minutes1
hour40
minutes
The Ingredients
The Meat:
Lean minced beef with less than 20% fat
The Onions:
white or red your choice, but don’t skimp on them, Onions cook down to nothing so don’t be shy.
The Sauce:
produced from the flavour of the meat and the onions with the addition of a good Beef Stock.
I know a good homemade beef stock takes a long time, so using a good quality beef stock cube does the job just as well.
The addition of half a small glass of red wine will enhance the flavour, but that is purely optional.
The Pastry:
I always like to make this pie with a good shortcrust pastry, but there’s nothing in the cook’s bible that says this is set in stone, puff pastry will do the job just fine if that is your preference.
Service:
It’s got to be creamy mashed potatoes with this one and then other veggies of your choice, I always plumb for minted garden peas with mine
Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
500 g beef mince
2 medium red onion chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp plain flour plus extra for dusting
250 ml beef stock
50 ml Red Wine Optional
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 tsp of dried thyme
Salt and black pepper
500 g block of shortcrust pastry/puff pastry or make your own shortcrust pastry
1 egg beaten
Directions
- Leave the Pastry in the fridge until needed
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6.
- Heat a deep pan over a medium-high heat and cook the mince until it has browned all over and no pink meat remains, make sure you break the meat up with a spatula. leaving no lumps, you can heat some oil in the pan if you wish, but I prefer to let meat cook in its own juices.
Let it cook in its own juices for 3 to 4 minutes
- Add the onion and thyme and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Stirring continuously
Stir in the tomato purée and cook for 2/3 minutes., keep stirring
- Stir in the flour and combine well, allow the mince to cook out for a further minute or two.
- Gradually stir in the stock, and Worcestershire sauce, add the wine at this stage if using. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.
If the sauce is not as thick as you would like, mix a little flour and water in a cup to a thickish paste and stir into the mix and let it simmer for another 10 minutes to thicken up, Remove the Thyme if using sprigs and set aside and allow to cool
- Grab the pastry and divide into ⅓ and ⅔.
- For the base of the pie, use the larger piece of pastry and shape it into a disc shape as best you can and roll out turning at 45° angles on each roll to get as round a piece of pastry as possible, which is larger than the pie dish
- Roll the pastry onto a rolling pin and drape over the pie dish. Ease the pastry into the shape of the dish leaving the edges overlapping the top, make sure to get the pastry well into the angle of the base and sides of the dish.
- Fill with the cooled mince mixture.
- Beat the egg with a dash of milk
- Roll out the second piece of pastry, in the same way, trying to get a circular shape slightly larger than the pie dish
Brush the edges of the lined pie dish with a little egg wash and roll the pastry onto your rolling pin and drape over the top of the pie
Press the edges of the pastry together and trim the excess around with a sharp knife
- Using the two forefingers of one hand and the thumb of the other crimp all around the edge of the pie, or you can use a fork to decorate the edge.
- Brush the top with egg wash. Make two incisions with the tip of a sharp knife to allow steam to escape when baking
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve with mashed potatoes and minted garden peas.
Enjoy