The Classic Steak And Kidney Pie Recipes

Steps:

• Heat a large frying pan with a little of the dripping or oil. Season the diced beef with salt and pepper. Fry in the pan until well coloured and completely sealed. Life out the meat and transfer to a large saucepan. Add a touch more oil, if necessary, to the frying pan. Season the kidneys and also fry quickly to seal and colour in the hot pan. Also transfer to the saucepan.
• Melt a knob of butter in the pan and cook the onions and carrots in the melted butter for 2 - 3 minutes. They will lift any flavours left from the meats. Put into the saucepan with the meat. Fry the mushroom slices in a little more butter, just turning in the pan for a minute or two; keep to one side.
• Place the saucepan on medium heat, stirring in the flour, and allow it to cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomato puree, bay leaf and mushrooms. Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer, skimming off any impurities. The meat should just be covered with the stock; if not, top with a little more stock or water. Simmer gently, partially covered, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. During the cooking time it may need to be skimmed several times.
• After 1 1/2 hours, check the meat for tenderness. If not quite soft enough, cook for the additional 30 minutes. If the meat is cooking gently, it will not need to be topped up with any additional stock or water. The sauce will have reduced, thickening it's consistency and increasing it's flavour.
• Taste for seasoning, adding a dash or two of Worcestershire Sauce to the mixture. Transfer to a 2 pint pie dish and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F.
• Roll the pastry 1/4-inch thick. Cut a strip of pastry to sit around the rim of the dish. This will help the top to stay on. Brush the rim of the pie dish with some beaten egg and apply the strip. Brush again with egg. Making sure the pastry top is bigger than the dish, sit it on top. Push down around the sides, trim and crimp for a neat finish. Brush completely with egg wash and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

Steps:

• It's important to cook the meat a day ahead, so that you can discard any fat that has risen to the top, and so that the pastry doesn't slump in the face of a too-warm filling, so up to 48 hours ahead -make the pastry. Whizz the flour and a pinch of fine sea salt together for a few seconds in a food processor, then add the butter and whizz until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Whisk together the egg yolk and 3 tbsp water and whizz with the pastry until it collects in a ball. Wrap in cling film and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least one hour.
• Cut button-mushroom-sized lobes of kidney from the white central core (discarding). Cut the beef into bite-sized cubes and cut the mushrooms into chunks.
• Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large, heavy frying pan over a medium-high heat. Throw in the kidney and fry until lightly coloured. Tip into a colander to drain.
• Wipe out the frying pan and return it to a low-medium heat, adding 25g/1oz of the butter and 1 tbsp oil. Tip in the onion and fry for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and slightly golden. Transfer to a large casserole, using a slotted spoon.
• Preheat the oven to 160C/gas 3/fan 140C. Tip the 85g/3oz flour into a large plastic bag, and season it generously. Throw in the beef and shake until lightly floured.Return the frying pan to a mediumhigh heat, adding a little more oil and butter if needed. Shake off any excess flour (reserving it) then fry the beef in batches until golden-brown. As each batch is done, transfer it to the casserole.
• Adding more oil and butter to the frying pan if necessary, fry the mushrooms for about 2 minutes until starting to wilt, then add them to the casserole with the drained kidneys, hot water, bouillon powder and bay leaf, plus the excess flour in the bag if you like a thick gravy. Stir well, cover and cook in the oven for 75-90 minutes until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick. Cool thoroughly, then put in the fridge (preferably overnight) so any fat will solidify - it can then be skimmed off and discarded.
• In the morning - return the pastry to cool room temperature, then roll it out thinly on a wellfloured surface. Invert a 28-30x23cm, 6.5cm deep pie dish on to the pastry. Mentally add an extra 1cm all round, then use the dish as a guide to cut out the pastry lid. From the remnants, cut out enough 6cm-wide strips of pastry to go round the dish - they should cover the flat rim and about halfway down the insides.
• Lightly butter the rim of the dish and line it with the strip(s) of pastry, sealing any joins with a little dab of water. Butter the shoulders of a pie raiser or an upturned egg cup and stand it in the middle. Spoon in the meat mixture to come level with the top of the dish. Don't overfill: reserve any excess gravy to serve hot with the pie.
• Brush the pastry rim with a little water, then drape the pastry lid over it, pinching the edges to seal. Cover with cling film and keep in the fridge if not baking immediately.
• Finally, an hour before serving - preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Make four slashes in the lid of the pie, then brush with the egg wash. Bake for 35-45 minutes until the pastry is golden brown, turning the heat down 10-20° after about 20 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and leave it to rest for around 10 minutes before cutting into it.

Steps:

• Prepare the pastry: In a large bowl, combine flour with butter and salt. Mix lightly with your fingertips until butter forms peasized pieces. Whisk together egg and 1 tablespoon of the water. Add to flour mixture all at once, mixing gently with your fingertips. You should be able to see chunks of fat, and the pastry should be moist enough to begin to stick together. If the pastry is too dry, add up to 2 more tablespoons of water.
• Turn the pastry out onto a lightly floured work surface, dust with flour, and knead it until the pastry is smooth, about 3 to 4 times. Transfer to a plastic bag and form pastry into a disk. Refrigerate a minimum of 30 minutes, or as long as 3 days.
• Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a casserole or Dutch oven. Add the steak and kidneys, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until just browned, about 3 minutes. Remove to a plate and reserve. Add 1 more tablespoon of oil to casserole, and add mushroom quarters. Cook over high heat, stirring, until light brown. Reserve on plate with meat. Add the remaining oil to the casserole, and add onions. Cook until well browned, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir so that the juices soak up the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, about 1 to 2 minutes.
• Stir the Worcestershire sauce into the hot water, and pour over the hot onion mixture while whisking. Add the reserved meats and mushrooms, and any juices that have collected, and season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 3 to 4 minutes or until slightly thickened.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 1/4inch. Fill a 9inch pie dish with the steak and kidney mixture. Dampen the edges of the dish with water, then fit the pastry on top, pressing it down well all around the edge to seal. Make a steam hole in the center, brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Bake for 25 minutes, or until pastry is golden.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Pat cubed meat with paper toweling until dry. Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Combine meat and flour in a ziplock bag and shake around to coat.
• In a large heavy skillet, heat suet until it is spluttering (but not smoking or scorching). Brown a few (10-12) cubes of meat at a time, turning often, until browned, about 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat if needed to prevent scorching. Remove from pan to a heavy 2-quart deep casserole (about 4 inches deep) when browned.
• Repeat until all the meat is cooked. Add more suet as needed.
• Reduce heat to medium and add mushrooms and onions. Saute 2-3 minutes or until tender. Transfer mushrooms and onions to casserole.
• Add water to skillet and bring to boil over high heat, scraping skillet with spoon to remove and browned bits. Pour over meat mixture in casserole.
• Add sherry, parsley, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and remaining salt and pepper (or to taste) to mixture in casserole. Stir gently to combine.
• On a lightly floured board, roll puff pastry out into a rough rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Cut 2 12x1/2 inch strips from ends of pastry. Lay strips end-to-end around rim of casserole and firmly press into place. Moisten slightly with cold water.
• Drape remaining pastry over the rolling pin and transfer to casserole. With a small, sharp knife, trim off excess pastry. Crimp edges.
• Reroll excess pastry and cut into decorative shapes (leaves, flowers, or whatever). Moisten back sides of pastry cutouts with a mixture of the egg yolk and cream and place arrange attractively on top of the pie.
• Slash 2 parallel cuts about 1 inch long in the center of the pie. Brush crust with the egg yolk and cream mixture.
• Bake in center of oven at 425°F for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake an additional 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
• Serve immediately, while fresh and hot.

Steps:

• Trim the beef to remove all the fat. Skin and remove the core from the kidneys and chop into small pieces.
• Brown the beef and kidneys in hot oil.
• Add the onions and cook 5 minutes.
• Stir in the flour and add the stock gradually.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Add sauce and bay leaf.
• Transfer to a saucepan, cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours until b eef is tender.
• Transfer to the pie dish.
• Top steak and kidney with the pastry.
• Cut a design deeply into the pastry to allow the steam to escape. Brush with egg yolk and milk glaze. Bake at 180 C for 35 minutes until the beef is hot and the pastry is golden brown.

Steps:

• In a pressure cooker, brown the beef, kidney and onion in the olive oil. Add the Guinness, boullion, bay leaves, worcestershire, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover and cook for approximately 20 min from the time the cooker starts to whistle.
• Once it's safe to remove cover, do so.
• Dissolve cornstarch in the water and then add mixture to the beef, bringing back to a boil to thicken.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Pour beef into a large baking dish and top with puff pastry.
• Bake till golden, approximately 40 minute.