Steak & Kidney pie
How to make Steak and Kidney pie, and a thick rich gravy, easy step by step simple instructions from start to finish.
Ingredients
Method
- The Pastry:
- 340g / 12oz Plain or all purpose flour
- 85g / 3oz cold butter
- 85g / 3oz cold lard or shortening
- ½tsp Salt
- 115mls / 115g / 4 oz of cold water
- 1 small egg (wash)
- The Pie Filling:
- 900g / 2lb of lean diced beef
- 4 Lambs kidneys approx 200g / 7oz (chopped small)
- 1 medium size onion
- 1 pint of stock: chicken or beef
- Small bunch of Thyme leaves, or 1 tsp dried Thyme
- 2 beef stock cubes
- 30g / 1oz Corn flour/starch
- 30g / 1oz Cold water
- Serves eight:
- Grease a suitable pie tin; see video for the size of tin I’m using for this recipe.
- Making the filling:
- Cut and dice the onion into medium to small pieces.
- Cut and dice the kidneys into small pieces as shown in the video, and put in the fridge until needed.
- Fry off the onion for 2 mins, add the diced beef and cover with the pint of stock (beef or chicken) crumble in 2 stock cubes, mix together before placing in the bunch of thyme leaves. Do not add the kidney yet.
- Bring the ingredients to a slow boil put on the pan lid, turn down the heat and simmer for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender as some cuts of beef may take longer.
- When there only 10 minutes left on the timer add the kidney.
- Mix the corn flour and water together.
- Once the meat is tender, ladle out the juice into another pan leaving about an inch in the pan, place back on the heat and stir in a third of the corn flour mixture, stir until thick. Set aside until cool.
- Make the gravy as shown in the video using the remainder of the corn flour mixture.
- Making the pastry:
- Add the flour, salt, cold butter and lard to a food processor, pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, add the cold water, when the pastry forms into a ball it is done, this should only take about 45 seconds.
- Cut the pastry in half form each half into a puck shape, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until needed.
- To make the pastry by hand: add the flour, salt, cold butter and lard to a bowl, rub the ingredients together until there is no more lumps of fat, form a well in the middle add the water and cut it together using an ordinary dinner knife.
- Putting the pie together:
- Preheat your oven to 190°C that’s 375°F or gas mark 5.
- Roll each pastry big enough to fit the pie tin, (see video for rolling technique).
- Place the bottom pastry in the greased tin carefully pushing it down into the corners, Prick the base of the pastry with a fork.
- Add the cooled steak and kidney filling and level it off.
- Brush water around edge of the rim before adding the top pastry.
- Crimp the edges together as shown in the video, (see video for crimping technique) trim off the excess pastry.
- Brush the top of the pie with the egg wash, prick in a few vent holes using a fork.
- Get the pie into the preheated oven and set the timer for 25 minutes, check when the time is up, if it’s a golden shiny brown it’s done, if it’s still a little pale give it another 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, let it relax for 10 minutes before serving.
- Enjoy.
Equipment used in my kitchen
