Make a Traditional Corned Beef Pie
Corned beef pie is a great dish to make and will go with anything for a snack or as part of a meal. Great with homemade chips, gravy and mushy peas, or anything else that takes your fancy. Simple to make with basic ingredients that you'll have in your cupboards! This recipe is enough to get approximately 10 slices.
Ingredients
- 2+ tins of Corned Beef
- 5-6 medium/large potatoes
- salt & pepper
- milk or a beaten egg to put on pastry
- knob of butter for potatoes and some extra to grease baking dish/tray
- Pastry, either pre-prepared or you can make your own.
- flour for dusting if needed
Steps
- Collect your ingredients and equipment.
- If you are making your own pastry do it now. If using pre-prepared then roll it out and put in tin/dish for baking. Leave it for about 10 minutes as the pastry shrinks. Then you can cut off excess..
- At this point you could 'blind bake' your pastry lining the tin. This helps prevent a soggy bottom on your pie. Make sure you prick the bottom with a fork and overlay the pastry with a sheet of greaseproof paper or baking parchment and dried peas or baking beans. This helps to keep the shape and also stop any rising. Set your oven to approx. Gas Mark 5.
- Wash, peel and cut potatoes ready for boiling. Place them in the pan and add water. Ignite hob and bring potatoes to the boil and simmer until ready.
- Whilst the potatoes are cooking, start chopping up the corned beef. Usually 2 tins is enough to make a pie but if you want more add more! Cut the corned beef into cubs as this is easier to mash.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, drain of water and put back into pan. Then add a knob of butter to the pan and start mashing making sure the texture is lumpy - obviously if you like your pie with lumps of potato don't mash too much!
- Add the corned beef and mash together with the potatoes. It may be too much to mash at once so add some at a time. Also add a good pinch of salt and pepper to season - add more if necessary.
- Once mashed together to the consistency you require add mix to the baking dish/tray that has been lined with pastry. Spread out evenly to the edges.
- Roll out some more pastry for the top. Wet the rim of the bottom sheet of pastry so that when the top piece goes on, it will stick to the bottom piece. Place this over the corned beef, etc, that is in the dish. Cut to size then pierce pastry on top with 2 slits - this is so the steam can get out. Then press with your thumbs all the way around the edges of the pastry so that they join tightly together.
- Wet the pastry with either milk or an egg that has been beaten. Brush on with a pastry brush to that all the pastry is covered. This helps the pastry to go golden brown.
- Place the pie in a pre-heated oven, approximately to gas mark {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. (If you are using pre-prepared pastry then follow instructions on packet as to what temperature the oven must be). Cook until pastry is golden brown.
- Tuck in! You can eat the pie hot or cold and with whatever you want. Enjoy!
- Finished.
Tips
- You'll know when the potatoes are ready as you should be able to put a knife through a potato and it should slide straight off the knife!
- The smaller you cut the potatoes the quicker they will cook.
- When boiling the potatoes, boil a kettle full of water and then pour on potatoes as this quicker than waiting for water to boil on the hob.
- Rotate you pie every 10mins or so when it is in the oven as this will help the pastry to cook evenly.
- Add 2 sliced carrots to the potatoes when you boil them to add extra flavour (mash them into the potatoes).
- Use whatever corned beef:potato ratio that you want. The less potato you use add more corned beef.
Warnings
- Take care when using the oven and hob as it will be extremely hot!
- Be careful when using knives.
Things You'll Need
- Baking dish/tray for baking the pie – you could use an ordinary plate if it can handle the heat of the oven.
- Pan for boiling potatoes-chopping board for cutting corned beef
- Utensils and cutlery – knives, spoons, rolling pin, pastry brush, potato masher
