Filling
500g lamb mince (or 450g mince and 1 medium onion, can also use beef or mutton mince)
1 tsp mixed herbs (optional - I prefer my pie plain with no herbs or onion)
1 tsp nutmeg (or 1/2 tsp ground mace)
4 tbsp stock or gravy
1tsp black pepper
Pastry
100g lard (or vegetable equivalent)
250g plain flour
115ml water
1tsp salt
Special Equipment
4x10cm spring form cake tins You can also form the cases round a jar and then wrap baking paper round them, but it is a lot more tricky this way as the pastry has to have much better structural integrity. It’s quite thin and more tricky to do than for pork pies…
Method
Make the pastry
Heat the lard and water gently until the lard melts. Don’t boil, just heat until the lard is melted on a lowish heat.
Mix the salt in to the flour in a bowl
Add the water/lard to the flour and mix in to a soft dough. If the dough seems too soft mix in a bit more flour, it can depend a bit on type of flour. It should be pretty soft but firm enough that you can roll it out and lift the piece in to the tin. It will get firmer as it cools also.
Take out of bowl and knead a little until smooth (not loads like bread, just a little bit)
You need to work the dough while it is reasonably warm, but it holds its heat well so no rush.
Divide dough in to 4 pieces.
Then take about 1/4 of each piece to be the lid.
Butter the tins. Roll out each big piece and put it in a tin, make sure there are no holes, it should come nearly to the top of the tin. The dough is quite squishy so just smosh a bit on if you get a hole and squidge it around until it is the right shape in the tin.
Shape each lid in to a circle that will fit inside the case, it should be a little smaller as it just sits in there.
Put the lid on a plate and put in the fridge with the cake tins while you make the filling.
Preheat oven to 180°C
Add salt and pepper to the mince to taste (approx amounts in the ingredients list) also add the herbs if you want. Remember if you use gravy it will probably add a bit more salt. Add the gravy and stir.
You can fry a little piece to make sure it is sufficiently seasoned.
The mixture shouldn’t be sloppy, you just want the liquid to help the meat bind together.
Put 1/4 of the filling in to each cake tin, it should not come anywhere near the top of the pie crust, probably it fills it half way.
Cut a hole in each lid and place over the meat. Don’t seal to the sides, there should be a tiny gap all round the lid.
Place on a tray in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned. I like mine a bit peely wally, but you can cook longer for a browner pie.
Let them cool a little before removing the cake tins. Eat hot with chips and beans or cold with salad (or however you want!).
