Individual steak and kidney pies
Ingredients
1 onion
100g (4oz) chestnut mushrooms
225g (8oz) ox kidney
450g (11b) lean braising or stewing steak
1 x 15ml (1tbsp) sunflower oil
1 x 15ml (1tbsp) plain flour
450ml (¾pint) boiling water and 1 beef stock cube
OR 450ml (¾pint) good beef stock
1 sachet bouquet garni
200ml (7floz) stout or brown ale
Freshly milled black pepper
500g (11lb 2oz) ready-made shortcrust pastry
1 egg
Time to prepare: 20 minutes
Time to cook: 2 hours 45 minutes
Serves: 4
Equipment
Chopping board, vegetable knife, red chopping board, large casserole dish with a lid, measuring
spoons, wooden spoon, kettle, measuring jug, small saucepan, 4 x 300ml (½pint) individual pie dishes,
spoon, flour dredger, rolling pin, fork, pastry brush.
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5 or 190°C.
2. Peel and slice the onion.
3. Wash the mushrooms and quarter.
4. Using a red board, core the kidneys and cut into small chunks.
5. Again using a red board, cut the steak into 2.5cm (1inch) cubes. Wash and dry hands
thoroughly after touching the raw meat.
6. Heat the oil in a large casserole dish and cook the beef for 3-4 minutes until brown.
7. Add the onion and mushrooms to the casserole dish and cook for 4-5 minutes until coloured.
8. Add the chopped kidneys and cook for 1-2 minutes.
9. Sprinkle over the flour.
10. Boil a kettle and make the stock in a measuring jug or heat the fresh stock in a small saucepan.
11. Add the hot stock, bouquet garni, stout and fresh black pepper to the casserole dish.
12. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and cook for 2 hours until the meat is tender.
13. Remove the bouquet garni and spoon the mixture into 4 x 300ml (½pint) individual pie dishes.
14. Flour the work surface and roll out the pastry and cut out four lids 1cm (½inch) larger than the
surface of each dish.
15. Dampen the edges of each dish with a little water and place the pastry lid on top of the meat
filling.
16. Trim off any excess pastry and lightly press the edges to seal.
17. Crack the egg into a measuring jug and lightly whisk with a fork.
18. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and bake for 35-40 minutes until the pastry is golden.
Top tips
 Serve with fat chips and seasonal vegetables or a crisp salad.
 Alternatively, to reduce the fat and saturated fat content of the dish, use a light pastry and
serve with boiled new potatoes instead of chips.
 Use a reduced salt stock cube to lower the salt content of the recipe.
Did you know?
Ox (beef) kidneys are particularly economical with a strong flavour. They require careful, long, slow cooking to
tenderise. One ox kidney weighs around 675g (1½lb) and will serve around 3-4 people. Sometimes you may get
ox kidney still encased by a jacket of firm, creamy fat known as suet which can then be grated and used in some
pastries and puddings.
Nutrition information per100g/serving (for 4):
© Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2014. This resource may be reproduced and used in all educational settings.
Energy 963/4352kJ, protein 10.7/48.5g, carbohydrate 15.0/67.9g, carbohydrate of which sugars
1.1/4.7g, fat 14.0/63.3g, saturated fat 4.4/20.0g, dietary fibre 1.6/7.1g, salt 0.72/3.24g, iron 1.4/6.4mg
© Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2014. This resource may be reproduced and used in all educational settings.