Try this Steak and Kidney Pie recipe
- Carbohydrate 28.6867098158574 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.387268333644 g
- Fiber 1.04586043626228 g
- Protein 3.88840187827468 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0618945833824693 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -9 pie (100g)
- Sodium 0.788333333967346 mg
- Sugar 27.6408493795951 g
- Trans Fat 0.12514083343636 g
- Calories 137 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 200C | 400F.
- Spray a muffin pan (or mini pie pans if you have them) with cooking oil.
- In your mixer, add the flour and salt.
- Chop up the butter into small cubes. Mix into the flour and salt until it becomes a course meal texture.
- Slowly pour in the water in a slow stream. If the dough is too sticky add more flour. If too dry, add more water.
- Roll out to ?-inch thickness.
- Split the dough in half- one half for the base, one half for the tops.
- Use a large glass or round cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough. It's handy to use a slightly smaller glass for the tops, but measure it against your own muffin tins.
- Press the base dough circles into the muffin tin.
- For the dough tops, cut a small opening in the centre of each and set aside.
- Cut out the white centre of the lamb kidneys and discard.
- Very finely chop up both the beef and the lamb kidneys. Mix together in a bowl.
- Sprinkle the salt and cayenne pepper over the meat and stir to distribute.
- Scoop the mixture into the muffin tins, adding a bit more in the centre to help keep the rounded pie top shape.
- When filled, pour a little red wine in.
- Press the dough tops on, and use a fork to press the edges together.
- Finish by brushing some melted butter on top of the dough.
- Pop into the hot oven and cook for ~30 minutes.
Chilled unsalted butter does the heaviest structural lifting in this recipe, demanding precise mechanical handling to yield a flaky crust rather than a heavy paste. When cutting butter into small cubes, ensure pieces remain cold before mixing them into the flour and salt until the texture resembles a coarse meal. Maintaining cold fat prevents premature melting during blending, which is essential for creating steam pockets in a 400F oven. Because small kitchens often lack specialized pastry tools, standard muffin pans serve brilliantly as individual pie molds, eliminating the need for bulky cast-iron or ceramic ramekins. If circular cookie cutters are absent, a large drinking glass paired with a slightly smaller one for the pastry tops provides clean edges without sacrificing counter space.
Managing Meat and Liquid Ratios
Lamb kidneys require careful trimming to remove the tough white core before finely chopping both the beef and offal to match the scale of miniature tins. Coarse chopping allows the filling to cook evenly within the designated 30-minute window while ensuring that the red wine and rendered fats intermingle properly beneath the pastry lids. Adding a slight mound of meat in the center of each tin compensates for natural shrinkage during baking and supports the dough top so it does not collapse into a concave shape. Cooks navigating dietary preferences can substitute the beef and lamb with firm root vegetables or button mushrooms soaked in rich vegetable stock, maintaining the exact same volume ratios specified for the meat.
Baking Mechanics
Piercing a small opening in the center of the dough top permits steam to escape, preventing internal pressure from bursting the fork-crimped edges during the initial heat surge. Brushing melted butter over the pastry surface promotes uniform browning and seals minor fissures in the dough. Cool leftovers completely on a wire rack before storing them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days, reheating gently to restore the crispness of the crust.
