We are, as you can imagine, big fans of sweet filled pies and we often whip up batches of sweet pastries for LittlePod gatherings. However, this is one of our favourite pie recipes, and it’s savoury. You only need a little vanilla, and you won’t necessarily taste it, but it works to bring all the flavours together, making this a truly tasty dish.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb or 220g Venison meat, trimmed
500g Shortcrust pastry
1 egg, beaten
6 medium potatoes
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
100g mushrooms, sliced
100g carrots, thinly sliced
100g frozen peas
1 tbsp flour
1/2 pint of stock (beef or veg)
3 tbsp red wine
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp LittlePod vanilla paste
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius/Gas mark 4. Chop, dice and parboil the potatoes. Meanwhile, season the flour with salt and pepper, dice the venison and toss it in the flour. Saute the venison in a little oil in a pan just to sear it. Then take it out and leave it to one side.
2. Chop the onion and garlic. Saute in the same pan and then add the meat back in along with 2 tbsp of red wine, a tsp of mustard and 1/2 tsp vanilla paste . Add almost all of the stock (leave a little for the sauce), mushrooms, carrots, peas and par-boiled potatoes. Let it all cook very slowly on a low heat for 5 mins then take it off the heat and put it to one side.
3. Roll out the pastry on a floured board. Cut out 8 circles (roughly 8cm diameter), then with the remainder, roll out into 4 rectangles ( the length must match the circumference of the circles. Egg wash all over both sides of all pastry shapes, then construct pies on a baking tray (preferably with sides for added support!) Use four pastry circles as bases and wrap pastry rectangles around the circumference (see photo). Leave lid off…
4. Fill your pastry pie cases with venison mix (pack it in!) Pop the lids on and make a hole in the centre. Egg wash all over. Put in the oven and cook for 25 mins.
5. Using the same pan, add the remaining stock, 1/2 tsp vanilla paste , 1 tsp wholegrain mustard and a tbsp red wine. Reduce down to a thick sauce and serve over your pies fresh from the oven and tuck in!
