Chunky Beef and Onion Pies

Chunky Beef and Onion Pies

2 tablespoons plain flour 500g lean gravy beef or chuck steak, cut into 3cm pieces 1 tablespoon olive oil 6 eschalots, peeled, quartered 1 carrot, peeled, chopped 1 celery stalk, trimmed, chopped 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary 2 cups reduced-salt beef stock 400g can no-added-salt tomatoes 1/4 cup smokey barbecue sauce 3 sheets reduced-fat shortcrust pastry 1 egg, lightly beaten 2 teaspoons poppy seeds 3 cups frozen peas, thawed Instructions:

Step 1 Preheat oven to 200°C. Coat beef with flour and set aside. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add half the meat and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until browned. Remove to a plate. Repeat with remaining oil and beef. Remove from pan.

Step 2 Return pan to heat. Add eschalots, carrot, celery and rosemary. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until vegetables start to soften. Add meat, stock, tomatoes and sauce to saucepan. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes, until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and cool.

Step 3 Grease a 6-hole (3/4 cup-capacity) Texas muffin pan (with extra-large holes). Using a 13cm pastry cutter, cut 2 rounds from each pastry sheet. Line base and sides with pastry. Place beef mixture into pastry cases.

Step 4 Using a 9.5cm pastry cutter, cut 2 rounds from each pastry sheet. Brush one side with egg. Place rounds, egg-side down over beef mixture. Press edges to seal. Brush tops with more egg. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until pastry is golden. Remove from oven. Stand for 5–7 minutes before serving with cooked peas.

HFG tip

Make double, triple or even quadruple batches of the beef and vegetable filling when you can. Freeze it in separate containers, so that you can always have the basics for a hearty, healthy meal. Beef pies are traditionally very high in saturated fat and can be quite high in sodium, too. We’ve reduced both, as much as possible, but this is still a ‘treat’ food. To make an even healthier version that you can enjoy more regularly, simply place the beef mixture into 6 x 3/4 cup-capacity ovenproof ramekins. Fill with beef mixture and top with rounds of pastry, made from 1 sheet.

Chunky Beef and Onion Pies

bon appetit