Lamby Lamb Pie

Pie ‘eck , You’re Gorgeous.

Maybe not strictliest a pie, as this only has a pastry top and no crust. Still, we can kid ourselves that it’s better for us this way as pastry is hardly health food #1. Also, the cut of lamb I’ve used – shoulder – is a fairly fatty cut so I have trimmed as much obvious fat as possible off it, but there is nothing else really to be done. You could, I suppose, use leaner cuts like fillet or leg of lamb but they are more expensive, arguably less flavoursome and not as suited to long slow cooking. Personally, I think shoulder is the perfect cut for this dish.

Recipe will serve 4 generously.

• 500g lamb shoulder, chopped into large bite sized chunks
• splosh olive oil
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• glass of red wine
• 800ml lamb stock
• splash of Worcester sauce
• bay leaf and couple of sprigs of thyme
• onion, finely sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 300ml of root vegetables – I used carrots but you might like swede, turnip or parsnips or a mixture – chopped into bite-sized chunks
• 200g mushrooms, sliced
• 250g puff pastry
• 1 egg
• splash of milk
• salt and pepper

A good few hours previous to when you plan to assemble the pie, put the onion, garlic, bay and thyme in a heavy based saucepan over a  low heat with a splash of oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sweat the onions down, until they are golden and completely soft. Meanwhile, put the chopped lamb and 1 tbsp of the flour into a freezer or ziploc bag and shake until the lamb is dusted with the flour. Brown the cubes of lamb in batches in a hot frying pan, and do not crowd the pan as this will cause the lamb to steam rather than brown.

When the lamb is sealed all over, put it in the saucepan with the onions and add the remainder of the vegetables. Turn the heat up to medium and pour in the glass of wine. Let this bubble away for a few minutes and pour in the stock and shake in a few drops of worcester sauce. Mix another teaspoon of flour with a couple of spoonfuls of the stock until smooth and pour into the saucepan. Bring this to the boil, stirring, and then turn down to a simmer. And then just simmer for a couple of hours until the sauce has reduced down and thickened and the lamb is very soft. Pour this into a large pie tin or lasagne dish and leave to cool.

Roll out your pastry, and cover your pie. Cut a hole in the top to allow the steam to escape and then mix and egg with a couple of tablespoons of milk. Brush this mixture over the pastry and then put into a preheated oven at Gas 7 for approximately 30-40 minutes. Like me, you may wish to cover it with foil towards the end of cooking, in order to stop the pastry burning, as mine has started to do. Serve with mash and veg.