Not enough of us make pies these days, yet there are few things more satisfying and crowd-pleasing than bringing a dish of golden-crusted goodness to the table. And it's not hard, just a matter of making a fine filling and good pastry.
The key is to lavish a bit of love on that filling; the crust is a crowning glory, not a place to hide. Most meaty pie fillings are essentially stews, so make them the best stews they can be, slow-cooked, well-seasoned and saucy. Fruit fillings are compotes that need to balance sweetness and acidity; you can also make them aromatic with a bit of spice or herb. Fish pie fillings can suffer from over-cooking, so put in the fish raw and insulate it with a sauce, so it stands up to the heat and time needed to render the pastry crisp.
Pastry's the crucial wrapping, so do make your own, if you have time. For pastry that cracks and crumbles beneath your knife, and melts in the mouth in a burst of buttery loveliness, you need the real deal, made with good flour, excellent butter and little else. A food processor or mixer with a pastry attachment gives consistent results, but trusting your own fingertips gives ultimate satisfaction.
Cold pastry into a hot oven is the trick: it leads to a quick "setting" of the dough, trapping the fat within, rather than letting it ooze out greasily. Chill your pastry until you need it, cool your filling before you assemble the pie, and set the oven to at least 190C/375F/gas mark 5.
Attend to these simple details, and you'll soon be living the life of pie.
Curried smoked haddock pasties
A pasty is a great way to show off your mastery of homemade rough puff pastry. These are smoky, rich and delicious. Serves four.
2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finelychopped
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 large onion, peeled and finelysliced
2 tsp medium-hot curry powder
100ml double cream
30g sultanas
6 dried apricots, quartered
1 tbsp chopped coriander
300g smoked haddock fillet, skinned and cut into chunky cubes
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
For the rough puff pastry
300g plain flour
Pinch of salt
150g chilled, unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
Beaten egg, to glaze
For the pastry, mix the flour and salt, add the butter and toss to coat in flour. Add just enough iced water (about 150ml) to bring it together into a fairly firm dough, and shape the dough into a rectangle. On awell-floured surface, roll it out in one direction, so you end up with anarrow rectangle about 1cm thick. Fold the farthest third towards you, then fold the nearest third over that, so you have a rectangle made up of three layers. Give it a quarter turn, and repeat the rolling, folding and turning five more times. Wrap and chill in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Use parchment to line a baking tray with a lip (just in case some butter leaks out of the pastry).
Now for the filling. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat, add the ginger, garlic and spices, and fry for 30 seconds. Stir in the onion and curry powder, and fry gently until soft. Add the cream, bring to asimmer and cook for a few minutes, until thick. Remove from the heat, stir in the sultanas, apricots and coriander, season, then set aside tocool before adding the fish.
Cut the pastry into four and roll out each to 4mm or so thick. Cut out four 18cm circles, and place a pile of the filling on one half of each circle. Brush the edges of the pastry with water, bring the other half over the filling and crimp together the edges.
Place on the baking tray, brush with egg and bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden and steaming hot all the way through. Eat warm or cold.
Steak and kidney pie
It's a classic for a reason. Serves six.
1kg beef skirt or chuck steak, cut into 4-5cm chunks
Up to 30g plain flour, well seasoned
400g beef kidneys, cored and cut into chunks
A little oil
1 glass red wine
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp English mustard
1 bay leaf
About 750ml beef stock (or water)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
350g open-cap mushrooms, thicklysliced
Rough puff pastry (see previous recipe), made with 400g flour and 200g butter, chilled
Heat a little oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Toss acouple of handfuls of the beef in the seasoned flour, shake off any excess, brown all over in the hot pan and transfer to a large saucepan. Repeat with the remaining meat and the kidneys, adding oil as needed.
Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up any crisp bits, and add to the meat. Add a little more oil to the pan and sweat the onion for a few minutes, until soft. Add to the meat, then add the ketchup, mustard, bay leaf and just enough stock barely to cover the meat. Bring to a tremulous simmer and cook for 90 minutes, until the beef is fairly tender but not quite finished (skirt may take a little longer than chuck).
Check the seasoning, then leave to cool. The filling can now be chilled for a day or two, or frozen. If using the mushrooms, before you make up the pie, fry them in a little oil for a few minutes to let the juices run, then add to the filling.
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Cut the pastry into two, about two-thirds and one-third. Roll out the larger piece and line a lightly greased pie dish (about 1.2 litres). Roll out the smaller piece to form alid. Spoon in the meat: it should beat least level with, and preferably a little higher than, the top of the dish. Ladle in enough juices to come 2cm short of the top of the dish.
Brush the edges of the pastry base with egg yolk, lay on the lid and crimp together the edges. Brush with more egg, and cut two vent holes at both ends of the pie. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until golden brown, leave to settle for around 15minutes, then serve with mash, greens and English mustard.
Bramley apple pie
With just apples, sugar and pastry, this remains one of our finest traditional puds. Serves six.
1kg Bramley apples
150g caster sugar, plus more to finish
2 tbsp ground almonds (optional)
1 star anise pod or ½ tsp cinnamon (optional)
For the sweet shortcrust
300g plain flour
50g icing sugar
175g cold butter, cut into small dice
1 egg yolk
About 4 tbsp cold milk (or water)
For the pastry, put the flour and sugar in a food processor and blitz briefly to combine. Add the butter and blitz until the mix resembles breadcrumbs (or rub it in by hand). Add the egg yolk (save the white) and just enough water or milk to bring it together, then knead lightly into aball, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven and a metal baking sheet to 220C/425F/gas mark 7.
Peel and core the apples, and slice thinly into a large saucepan. Add the sugar and two tablespoons of water. Add the spice, if using. Bring to asimmer and cook gently, stirring often, for 10 minutes, until the apples start to break up but are not yet mushy. Leave to cool.
Cut the pastry into two, about two-thirds and one-third. Roll out the larger piece and line a 4cm-deep 24cm pie dish (metal or enamel give a crisper finish). Scatter the almonds over the base, if using: they're not essential, but they help avoid asoggy bottom. Tip the apple into the pastry-lined dish (leave the staranise pod in).
Roll out the remaining pastry and brush a little water around the rim. Place the lid over the filling, trim off any excess and seal the edges. Lightly beat the reserved egg white and brush over the pie, then sprinkle generously with caster sugar (mixed with a good pinch of cinnamon, if you've used some in the pie). Cut a couple of small slashes in the top. Put on the hot oven sheet, bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and bake for 30 minutes more, until a rich golden brown. Leave to sit for at least 15 minutes before serving, with cream, custard or ice-cream.
