Traditional English Beef & Potato Picnic Pies - Pasties

"Delicious little "hand pies" which are ideal for picnics as well as for brunch, lunch & light snacks. These are very easy to make & can be made ahead & frozen for up to 3 months. I made these using individual 5" disposable aluminium pie tins; however, the ingredients listed would also make a large double-crusted plate pie. Serve them warm or cold with pickles, relishes, chutneys & assorted salads. Also wonderful with hot gravy! The individual 5" pies that have been made here are quite generous, so if you wish, make them smaller than that - maybe in a muffin tin!"
 
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photo by Baby Kato photo by Baby Kato
photo by Baby Kato
photo by Baby Kato photo by Baby Kato
photo by Baby Kato photo by Baby Kato
photo by Baby Kato photo by Baby Kato
photo by christie photo by christie
Ready In:
2hrs
Ingredients:
19
Yields:
6 individual pies
Serves:
6
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ingredients

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directions

  • First peel and cut your potatoes into even size chunks & then boil for about 15-20 minutes or until very tender, but not too mushy.
  • Drain the potatoes and add the milk, butter, salt & pepper to taste.
  • Mash very well with a potato masher or using a hand-held mixer.
  • Mash/mix until there are no lumps left.
  • The mashed potato should be smooth but fairly firm and not too soft.
  • Heat up the oil in a large roomy pan and add the diced onions. Add the garlic if using with the onions.
  • Cook the onions for about 15-20 minutes, until soft and golden.
  • Remove the onions and set to one side in a large mixing bowl.
  • Add the minced beef, adding a bit more oil if necessary. Stir the minced beef all the time to break down any lumps. Cook for about 15 - 20 minutes until cooked & brown all the way through.
  • Add the tinned tomatoes, soy sauce, herbs, tomato puree if using and a good twist of freshly ground black pepper. Mix together thoroughly.
  • Continue to simmer and add the beef stock - stirring all the time for a further 5 minutes.
  • Take off the heat and add the beef mixture to the onions.
  • Mix them together thoroughly & then add the mashed potatoes - mix again well.
  • Allow to cool slightly.
  • Pre-heat the oven to 220C, 425F or gas mark 7.
  • Grease 6 x 5" pie tins OR 1 x 9" ovenproof pie plate.
  • Sprinkle some flour onto a board and roll out the ready-made puff pastry.
  • Taking a saucer or a large cookie cutter, cut out six x bottoms for the pie tins, just slightly larger than the tins. (Invert the pie plate & cut around it for a plate pie.).
  • Put the pastry bottoms into the buttered tins (or on to the buttered plate) and fill generously with the beef and potato pie filling.
  • Cut out the lid/s and moisten the edges of the bottom pastry case with water; then place the lid/s on top - making sure they reach right up to the edge.
  • Crimp the edges of the pastry with a fork or your fingers to make a seal.
  • Cut two slits on top of the pies with a knife or scissors.
  • Glaze with the beaten egg (or milk) and sprinkle some sea salt.
  • Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25- 30 minutes until puffed up and golden brown.
  • Serve warm or cold with pickles, chutneys and assorted salads.
  • Ideal for picnics, snacks, light lunches & brunch.
  • Freezer:

  • To freeze them, pack them with greaseproof paper between each pie in a freezer container. Defrost for at least 6 hours. Can be frozen before the final baking or after being baked. To cook when unbaked, defrost them & then follow the directions above.

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Reviews

  1. These were just ok for us...they took longer than 30 minutes to cook..I took them out after 30 and the crust was not done so I had to put them back in. After 15 more minutes they were close enough since the kids were starving. I think I will try these with just pie crust instead of puff pastry(personal preference) This was for ZWT 07
     
  2. These were really good! However, I did make some tweaks. I used ground turkey, just to lighten it up a bit. I added cinnamon to the spice blend, which really perked up the flavor a lot. I found the mixture to be really soupy, so I ended up draining off a lot of the liquid. I would use considerably less broth than written here and probably would drain the tomatoes before adding them. I used refrigerator biscuits instead of puff pastry - they were the perfect size rolled out, and a lot more economical than puff pastry. They were a hit at my party last night!
     
  3. Simply delicious tartlette. Just delicious, I never changed a thing. I'm so glad that I tried this dish. It is the best meatpie of its type that we have ever tried. They were shared with our neighbors....two of them came looking for more, that's how special these babies are. So tasty and savory, I loved the combination of mashed potatoes, beef, onions and tomatoes in the puff pastry. I used herbs de provence to flavor the pies. So so good, I highly recommend these to everyone. They are very impressive looking. Made for Under Cover - Pies and Tarts for June In the Photo's Forum :)
     
  4. Awesome recipe! I played around with it a little bit--doubled the recipe, used my normal pie crust, added some carrots. In addition to the soy sauce, I added some Worcestershire sauce, which added a great complexity. I've got a couple left in the freezer, along with the remains of the filling so I can easily make more. Thanks so much for sharing!
     
  5. Wow! These were SO good. My husband won't stop raving about them. We were both really impressed with them. I made a few small changes......I kept my potato in small pieces (about the size of a playing dice) and I also put cooked carrots the same size in. As I wasn't going to have the mash to soak up some of the liquid i cooked down for about 10 minutes after I added the stock. I made these into pasties. So yum and my husband won't eat another pastie again. :) Thank you so much for a great recipe that we will definately use again.
     
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Tweaks

  1. These were really good! However, I did make some tweaks. I used ground turkey, just to lighten it up a bit. I added cinnamon to the spice blend, which really perked up the flavor a lot. I found the mixture to be really soupy, so I ended up draining off a lot of the liquid. I would use considerably less broth than written here and probably would drain the tomatoes before adding them. I used refrigerator biscuits instead of puff pastry - they were the perfect size rolled out, and a lot more economical than puff pastry. They were a hit at my party last night!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p><strong><span>The sunflowers in the field behind my house in SW France:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Sunflowers src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/DSCN8221.jpg alt=Sunflowers width=640 height=480 /><br /><strong><span><br /><br />I am British (English-Scottish), but I was born in South Africa and have lived all over the world, including Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, USA &amp; Singapore. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled extensively over the years.........I still have wanderlust! <br /><br />I used to be an English Literature &amp; Art History teacher &amp; lecturer; before that, I trained and worked as a Graphic Designer for many years. I now live in France with my husband &amp; my daughter who has just started university in September 2006. We also have one very chatty Burmese cat Willow, who allows us to live with her here! (I used to have three cats, I recently lost Monty, a beautiful seal point Siamese and before that, Rama, who was a debonair blue point Siamese cat - I would love to have another Siamese cat or cats in the future!)</span></strong></p> <p><em><strong><span>This is my Burmese Cat, Willow, sunning herself on the log pile in the kitchen garden:</span></strong></em></p> <p><strong><img title=My src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ABaconButtyandSundryFoodPhotos34.jpg alt=My width=640 height=480 /></strong></p> <p><strong><span>Here is my lovely Monty, a seal point Siamese, and Willow, sitting&nbsp;in the kitchen garden last year, and a few months before Monty died; he was 18yrs old:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Monty src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/AbsolutelySinfulStickyToffeePudding.jpg alt=Monty width=640 height=480 />My</p> <p><strong><span>This is my wonderful old boy, Rama, a blue-point Siamese, who died when he was 20yrs old - excuse the old and much sellotaped photo:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Rama src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Rama1stOctober2004164.jpg alt=Rama width=517 height=639 /></p> <p><strong><span>My favourite pastimes are: reading, writing, painting &amp; drawing, photography, gardening, anything creative, walking, travelling, dining out and of course COOKING! I love all types of cuisine, but especially Traditional British - and NO it is NOT all bad!! I particularly love food associated with the changing seasons plus traditional feasts &amp; festivals, as well as Slow Cooking. I also enjoy French &amp; North African cuisine, come to think of it, there isn't much I don't like! <br /><br />My husband &amp; I run a Chambres D'Hotes, (Bed and Breakfast) called Auberge de la Fontaine here in beautiful South West France; we specialise in Gourmet Food &amp; Wine Breaks, French Antiques &amp; Restoration courses, French Language courses and French Cookery classes. Our home is completely furnished with Antique French furniture that we have rescued &amp; restored ourselves. Our charming village has one of the oldest Churches in the region &amp; it is famous for its connection with the St.Jacques de Compostella Pilgrimage route, as well as being within the Cognac &amp; Bordeaux wine growing area. <br /><br />We have a wonderful garden where we grow ALL of our own herbs and most of our fruit and vegetables. I specialise in rare, unusual and old-fashioned herbs, which I grow in our walled garden. As well as growing herbs, I also grow many different varieties of lavender, old-fashioned shrub roses and heirloom fruit and vegetables. <br /><br />We have lived overseas for many, many years now - but we both still love going home to Northern England, near Scarborough &amp; York, to visit our family &amp; friends. 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I am always very humbled by anyone who chooses to make one of my recipes, and I love reading the reviews and seeing the beautiful photos that are posted. Merci beaucoup encore! <br /><br />A note about my recipes. All of my posted recipes, whether they be my own concoctions or adaptations from a book or a famous chef, have been tried and tested at least once, by ME! I try to make sure that I am the guinea pig and not you! However, if there is anything you would like ask me about one of my recipes, or a query that I may be able to help you with, please do write and I will try to answer your question as soon as possible. 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