Irish Stew Pie

Put your cup of seasoned flour in a bowl.

Put your lamb in the bowl of seasoned flour, make sure every dice of lamb is coated, shake off the excess flour as you transfer the lamb to another bowl. Discard the flour.

Pre-heat a large pot over high heat. Once the pot is nice and hot, add your vegetable oil, then add your lamb adding one dice at a time, making sure each dice of lamb has it’s own space to fry in the pot (if you need to fry the lamb in multiple batches, that’s fine).

Once the lamb is browned all over, transfer it to a bowl.

Turn the heat in the pot down to medium heat, add a touch more oil if need be, then add your onions and carrots. Fry in the pan for a minute or 2.

Add your 2 tablespoons of flour, then coat the onions and carrots in the flour.

Add your beef stock, water, seared lamb, potatoes, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil, then down to a simmer. Let the mixture bubble away for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally so the mixture doesn’t stick and burn at the bottom.

Once you have a nice, thick stewy mixture, season the filling to taste with salt and pepper, add your fresh mint and mix through.

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees C (360 degrees F)

Whisk the egg yolks and the cream together in a bowl.

Transfer your filling to a pie dish and brush the beaten egg and cream around the rim of your pie dish.

Lightly dust a flat clean surface with your extra flour, then place one sheet of puff pastry on your surface. Place the other sheet directly on top, then dust the pastry lightly again. Roll the 2 sheets of pastry against one another until the pastry binds together and becomes as thin as one sheet.

Lay the puff pastry over the pie dish, trim off any excess pastry hanging over the sides, then firmly push the edges of the pastry down on the rim of the pie dish so it sticks.

If you want, you can use some of the excess pastry to create the shamrock symbol, egg wash it, then stick in on top of the pie. Egg wash all of the pastry on top so it comes out of the oven nice and golden brown.

Cook your pie in the oven for 40-45 minutes, then serve.

Recipe Notes

• Make sure the filling is nice and thick by adding plenty of flour to the pot before adding your stock and water, by not adding too much liquid and by letting the mixture simmer for a good amount of time so it reduces.
• The egg wash in this recipe is made by whisking egg yolks and cream together, this is a much more effective eggs wash as it helps the pastry stick to the rim more effectively, and it makes the pastry darker, shinier and a more golden brown colour.
• If you want to make the pie in advance, store the pie raw in the fridge, then start cooking it 40-50 minutes earlier than the time you’re ready to serve.
• You can use cheap cuts of beef instead of lamb if you wish.
• You can use chicken stock instead of beef stock, although if you do, just add 750ml of chicken stock and don’t worry about adding any water (the only reason I watered down the beef stock is because it has quite a strong flavour).