Ingredients
- 410g unsalted butter
- 11/2 tsp salt
- 480g plain flour
- 120ml iced water
- 50ml vegetable oil
- 1 kg lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into about 5cm cubes
- 50g plain flour for dusting
- 2 onions, diced
- 5 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp salt
- 250ml chicken stock
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 750g sliced Portobello mushrooms
- 600ml veal jus (sold at good butchers)
- 2 tsp tarragon, chopped
- 2 tsp chives, chopped
- 2 tsp parsley, chopped
Method
Start pastry 12 hours ahead. Dice 360g butter into small cubes. Mix 1/2 teaspoon salt into flour, add butter and iced water and gently rub the butter into the flour. Bring together into a ball, flatten and allow to rest for at least 12 hours in the fridge. When cold, roll out to 3-millimetre thickness. Cut into 6 x 12-centimetre discs. Re-roll the scraps and roll 6 x 10-centimetre disks for the bases. Chill.
For the filling, heat oil in frypan. Dust lamb in flour and brown the pieces. Place in a braising dish. Sauté onions and garlic in the pan used to brown lamb, add the allspice, remaining 1 teaspoon salt and chicken stock. Pour over lamb. Cover with paper and a tight lid or foil. Braise at 150C for 3 hours. When cool enough to handle, strain and shred the meat, keeping onions and garlic in the mix. Add enough braising liquid to make a moist mix that can be rolled into 100g balls.
Prehead oven to 200C. To assemble pies, place smaller pastry disks, well spaced, on a baking paper-lined oven tray. Place a ball of lamb filling on top, then cover each with a larger pastry disk, moulding the pastry around the lamb. Seal the top and bottom pastry join with beaten egg, then glaze top of pie with more egg. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden.
To serve, sauté mushrooms in remaining 50g butter. Heat veal jus. Place a spoonful of mushrooms on a plate. Sprinkle with chopped herbs and pour over veal jus. Place pie on top and serve.
