Cookbook Challenge 2 – Haggis, Whisky & Co

As promised, there will be a second recipe inspired by (because I barely ever follow a recipe precisely) from my Scottish cookbook. For this challenge, Mick added the comment “leave out one single ingredient”. Since this recipe included 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, this was an easy one. I haven’t had nice experiences with it and wasn’t willing to get one for one teaspoon. So I left it out. Might have replaced some other things too, but that’s just how I cook. The fact that you don’t mince actual steak for a steak pie helped as well (that would’ve been just cruel I’m sure)!

I’ve never had Steak Pie when I was in the UK, always a bit suspicious of them. Especially because they often have intestines as well which I don’t eat. So I thought for my first one, I might as well do it myself. On top of that, I’ve never made any meat pie and seldom a pie like that at all! I hoped at least the filling would be tasty in case the whole thing fell apart. The recipe talks about smaller pies but without a muffin form – just moulded and then filled. Now that sounded as if it was going to fall apart, so I went with the variation that suggests just one big form. Obviously I was left with more dough than I needed for one big pan – so the recipe is made for smaller pies.

The Steak Pie is part of the “Bill o’Fare, The Burns Supper”, which is usually eaten on Burns Night. Needless to say I left out the part of the menu that had Haggis in it, though the Cock-a-Leekie soup tempted me (but not in this heat).

Steak Pie

500g Minced Meat
150g Mushrooms (I used porcini)
150ml Beef Stock
2 Shallots [Disclaimer: I ran out of shallots or onions, so in this version, I made do without and used more mushrooms instead]
25g Butter
150ml Gravy [I didn’t have any gravy, so I used a bit of water. It got very soupy, so handle gravy with caution!]
Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg

For the dough:
175g Butter
500g Flour
Water
Salt
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Milk

Here it goes 🙂

Preheat oven at 150C. Mix flour and salt for the dough, making a dent in the middle. Melt butter with a bit of water in a small pot, then pour it in. Mix until you have a smooth dough. The original recipe didn’t have an egg but there was no way I was going to get a smooth dough, so I thew one in. It was still a bit on the crumbly side – hence the patching in the form – but much better than what it was without the egg. People with experience in doughs get a feeling what it might need. Like I said above, the amount is for smaller pies, if you put it in one or two big forms you’ll have some dough left over or it’s not a thick layer of meat in the middle.

Roll out the dough and fit into the oven form of your choice. The recipe talks about how you can make it by hand without a form, but I was sceptical about it.

For the filling, cut the shallots into small pieces and throw them into a steep pan. Then add the meat and fry it for a few minutes. In the end, add the mushrooms. Here, the recipe suggests to add gravy, but I just put in a bit of water and found it quite soupy in the end. That’s where I hope it wouldn’t make the whole thing fall apart later. Now add the spices. There was still feta cheese in the fridge, so I mixed that in. Once I had filled the form with the meat mix, I grated some mountain cheese over the top before I put the layer of dough over it. After I put a layer of dough on the top, I spread milk over it.

Now bake in oven at 15C for 45min.

I wasn’t really sure if upon getting it out and cutting it, it was going to be a solid piece like a cake of if the filling will fall out. Either way I wasn’t sure which was the thing it was supposed to be… 🙂

Consequentially, I was very excited when I got it out of the oven. It stayed where it probably should’ve – inside the pastry. There was some liquid coming out but nothing fell apart. One larger bit in the middle was a bit tough to get out of the form for the lack of right instruments, but that was the only trouble there. All around, the dough was firm and quite sturdy.

Eating it, the filling was rather flavourful and I think the cheese fit very well. If you put it in a muffin form, I think it would make a great meal to take along or out for a picnic. Once you have the dough you can get creative with the filling. I am sure the dough itself will get smoother and prettier when I make it more often. All in all, I enjoyed making and eating it, would definitely make it again.