Lamb, Mushroom and Kumara Pies

Ingredients:

Pie filling:

500-600gm diced lamb shoulder

3T flour

2-3T oil

2T Westgold butter

1 onion, chopped

½ stick celery

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1-2T chopped herbs

150gm mushrooms, cut into wedges

1 1/4c beef stock

2T worcester sauce

1T tomato paste

1t cornflour (if needed)

salt and pepper

extra thyme to sprinkle

Pastry:  

2c high grade flour

pinch salt

180gm cold Westgold butter, cut in 1cm dice

1/2c cold water, refrigerated

Kumara mash:

500gm kumara, peeled

70gm Westgold butter

½ - 3/4c milk, warmed

salt and pepper

Method:

Pie filling:

Heat a large heavy frypan and melt the Westgold butter.  Add onion, celery and garlic and cook on a medium heat until starting to brown, then spoon into a bowl. Toss the diced lamb in the flour.  Add oil to the same pan and brown the lamb on all sides in 2 batches over a high heat.  Add the vegetables back to the pan with the herbs, stock, tomato paste, worcester sauce and mushrooms.  Cover and simmer very gently for about 1 ½ hours until the meat is tender.  Thicken the sauce slightly with cornflour diluted in a little water if needed.  The sauce needs to be fairly thick so pastry can hold the meat & sauce mixture.  Season and set aside to cool, then refrigerate.

Pastry:

Put flour & salt into a bowl, add the Westgold butter and rub into the flour with your fingertips until half rubbed in.  You want to still see small knobs of butter.  Tip the flour & Westgold butter mix onto the bench and make a well in the centre.  Pour water into the well and work in a circular motion using your fingers to make the dough.  You may need an extra tablespoon of cold water to sprinkle around to pick up any flour that hasn’t properly mixed in. Knead gently with the heel of your hand to form a ball, wrap in plastic and rest in fridge for 30mins. Remove from fridge and roll out on a floured bench to a thickness of about 3mm. Cut the pastry into 6 circles to fit your pie tins, (we used 10-12cm tins) and line the individual tins, allowing a 1/2cm overhang of pastry.  Rest in the fridge until needed.  There will be some extra pastry leftover to use for something else, which can wrapped in plastic & frozen until needed.

Kumara mash:

Cut the peeled kumara into large chunks and place into saucepan.  Cover with salted water and & simmer for around 20mins until tender.  Strain and press through a ricer or mash with a potato masher.  Add the Westgold butter and stir until melted.  Add the hot milk a little at a time and stir until you reach a consistency that is creamy but still holds it shape.  Season and set aside to cool.

To assemble pies:

Heat the oven to 200deg.  Spoon the cold lamb mixture into the chilled pastry lined pie tins.  Top with mounds of cooled kumara mash.  Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with picked fresh thyme.

Cook 25-30 mins until pastry is crisp and golden.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool down in the tins for 20mins.  Serve with fresh green vegetables or salad and your favourite chutney.

NB: The lamb mixture, pastry and kumara mash can all be made the day before and assembled & cooked on the day needed.