From tonight’s discussion with Renee – here are some pie fillings. In this post are the following recipes:

Family Meat Pie (Aussie style)

Steak and Kidney

Chicken Stroganoff

Curried Seafood

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Family Meat Pie Filling

1 tablespoon oil

750g beef mince

120g diced bacon

1 large onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 stick celery, diced

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, optional

2 teaspoons chutney

2 teaspoons soy sauce

300ml stock or water

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

3 teaspoons cornflour mixed to a paste with a1/4 cup cold water

1 batch savoury shortcrust pastry

Method

Heat the oil over a medium high heat. Add the mince and bacon and cook until well coloured, stirring often. Add the prepared vegetables and continue to cook a further 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 20 minutes. Thicken with cornflour paste until desired consistency is reached. Cool.

Serves 6

Steak and Kidney

If you don’t like steak and kidney, you can simply leave it out or use some mushrooms instead.

Serves 4 to 6

For the filling

1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil

750g lean stewing beef, diced

3 lambs kidneys, cores removed and diced

1 onion, diced

1 slightly rounded tablespoon plain flour

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons chutney (any sort)

½ teaspoon salt

Method

Heat the oil over high heat and sauté the beef and kidneys until browned. Reduce heat and stir in the flour, then gradually stir in the stock or water. Add the sauce, chutney and salt and bring to the boil. Stir until thickened. Add extra salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken Stroganoff

1 tablespoon olive oil

500g chicken breast

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon mustard powder

300g mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 small onion, diced

1 leek, white part only – sliced

300ml chicken stock

3 teaspoons cornflour mixed to a paste with 30ml cold water

125ml cream

1 egg yolk

3 teaspoons lemon juice

1 egg yolk (extra) whisked with 1 tablespoon water, for glazing

1 sheet ready rolled short crust pastry

Method

Heat the oil in an ovenproof dish for 5 minutes.

Rub the chicken breast with the combined salt, paprika, thyme and mustard powder

Add the chicken and bake for 5 minutes, then turn and bake for 5 minutes more.

Remove from the oven and cut the chicken into bite sized pieces approximately 8mm square). Set aside.

Add the mushrooms, onion, leek and garlic and stir to coat with the pan juices. If your pan is stovetop friendly, heat over medium heat and sauté until the onion is soft, approximately 3 minutes. (Otherwise transfer to a saucepan to do this step).

Stir in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Thicken with the cornflour paste, boiling for one minute more. Remove from heat and stir in the cream, which has been whisked with the egg yolk, and finally the lemon juice.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Cool the mixture.

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Curried seafood

The curry in this recipe is optional – if left out it is a delicious mornay sauce.

500g seafood of choice – cleaned as appropriate if shellfish, fish fillets cut into 1.5cm pieces

60g butter

2 rounded tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons curry powder

2 teaspoons stock powder

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons tomato sauce (ketchup style) or chutney (green tomato is especially nice)

¾ cup grated tasty cheese

2 tablespoons cornflour mixed to a paste with a little extra milk

Method

Pour boiling water over the seafood to cover, and leave to stand for 3 minutes. Drain well and pat dry.

To make the sauce, melt butter over a low heat. Add curry powder and stock powder and stir for two minutes.

Add the flour and cook for a further two minutes, stirring constantly.

Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly with a whisk.

Bring to boil, whisking constantly, then lower heat and simmer for three minutes, stirring. Add prepared seafood and cook for one minute. Cool completely.