If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know this fact about me. I love pie. I LOVE PIE. All sorts of pie. Sweet or savoury. Pastry topped or potato topped. Easy or intricate. Big or handheld. Homemade or bought. PIE IS LIFE.

And, as if I am not excited enough about pie………this is National Pie Week – you heard me right – I full week to celebrate pie! What a time to be alive.

This week I’m bringing you two types of savoury pie – one involves a few more steps but is totally worth the effort and the other is sooooooooo frickin easy, it’s barely a recipe.

Today I’m starting out with the more intricate pie as the weekend us upon us and there is a little more spare time to spend with this pie. He’s a handsome boy and will make your mouth water at the sight of him, all proud and golden.

This is a beef bourguignon pie made with slow cooked shin beef*, which gets unctuous and as soft as you like after cooking for hours in a red wine bath.

The pastry is homemade and laced with cheese and paprika to amp up the flavour factor. If you haven’t tried to make your own pastry before, this is a good one to start with. It’s pretty easy to work with and isn’t too short and crumbly.

*Shin beef is nice a fatty, making it a perfect contender for a slow cook, which cooks down all that fat and leaves you with soft and beautiful beef. It can come on the bone or cubed – I prefer on the bone as that, along with the bone marrow, is a flavour boost you cannot replicate. You butcher should be able to get you bone-in shin beef. It’s also really cheap compared to most other cuts of beef.

Let’s get to it

Shin beef bourguignon pie with cheese and paprika pastry

Ingredients

• 1.5kg shin beef, inc bone
• 2 yellow onions, chopped
• 150g smoked bacon, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, chopped finely
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 2 beef stock cubes (or fresh beef stock if you have it)
• 500 ml red wine
• 1ltr boiling water
• 1 bouquet garni (fresh or dried)
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 150c fan.
2. Brown the shin beef with a little oil in a large oven proof pot with a lid till it’s nice and gnarly and golden brown. Set aside.
3. Place the chopped onions and bacon in the pot with the beef juices and sauté until softened and starting to colour. Add the chopped carrots and fry for a few mins before adding the crushed garlic.
4. Give everything a stir and add in the tomato puree, cooking for a couple of mins. Add the flour and stir it among the veggies for a few more mins.
5. Place the browned shin beef back into the pot and throw in the stock cubes, red wine and boiling water, so the beef is barely covered. Chuck in the bouquet garni and bay and season well.
6. Bring it to a boil, put the lid on and pop it in the oven for 3-4 hours until the beef is soft and delicious. You may need to top up with water if it’s looking too dry.
7. Take it out of the oven and remove the bone and meat from the liquid, keeping one bone to use as a pie funnel (any other pie funnel will also do)
8. Shred the beef and remove any stubborn fat or sinew that remains. Bit of a faff, but I recommend doing this step.
9. Put the shredded beef back into the bourguignon liquid and set aside while you make your pastry.

For the pastry

Ingredients

• 400g plain flour
• 200g pastry butter (regular butter will do)
• 60g parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tsp paprika
• Salt and pepper
• A little dash of water

Method

1. Increase the oven temp to 180c fan
2. Put the flour and butter in a food processor and blitz till it resembles breadcrumbs. You can also do this by hand, just rub the flour and butter together with your fingertips.
3. Add in the cheese, paprika and salt and pepper and incorporate into the butter and flour.
4. Whizz in just enough water to bring it all together and isn’t too wet. Around 2-3 tbsp should do it.
5. Wrap the pastry in cling film and rest it in the fridge for 30mins.
6. Fill your chosen pie dish with beef bourguignon mix and roll out the pastry to fit the top – making space for your pie funnel.
7. Place the pastry on top of the dish, pressing it tight to the edge of the dish to seal it.
8. Bake in the oven for 30 mins until golden and gorgeous.