James cooks us his ultimate pie - beef mince with potato and short crust pastry.
Ingredients:
280g lean minced beef
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 stick celery, peeled and diced
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tsp meat extract
1 tbsp plain flour
150 ml beef stock
1 large King Edwards potato, peeled and diced
Sea salt and ground black pepper
1 400g pack of short crust pastry
1 beaten egg
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6.
2. Brown the mince in a large frying pan with diced carrot, celery, onion and garlic then add the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and meat extract.
3. Mix well then sprinkle over the flour and cook out for 2 minutes.
4. Add the stock, diced potato and season, cover with a lid and simmer for around 15 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to cool.
5. Roll out ¾ of the pastry to a large square shape big enough to line your oven proof pie dish or cake tin (20cm by 5cm deep is a good size if you have it).
6. Add the cold mince filling, then roll out the remaining pastry to form a lid and lay on top.
7. Beat an egg and brush the edges of pastry, then crimp and seal.
8. Brush the pastry lid with egg all over, score a cross in the middle of lid and bake the pie for 25-30 minutes until golden.
Serve with buttered curly kale and mashed potato.