Take The Pie Road

Writing recipes is a strange way to make a living. Mostly we are writing for publication at least one or two seasons ahead so none of the ingredients we need are in the shops. And no-one's really in the mood to eat what we're cooking.
Tomorrow, I have asked Heidi, Bert, Sami and Milo to pop over after their walk in the woods with Rob and Scrap for lunch at ours. I am testing recipes for bonfire night which includes mulled cider and a slow-roast pot-chicken I am experimenting with. Only we will be eating it at midday on a sunny Saturday in April.
When my best friend Angela was writing her lovely book Pie, she tested so many recipes she ended up knocking on all the neighbours doors asking if anyone fancied a pie for their tea. She made these for me and Robert and gave us them all ready to cook at home. They tasted wonderful – but how sweet are they! I love initials on things

Anyway, we ate so many of her pies that I can’t remember which one this was. So here’s a recipe from her lovely book. Thanks Ange!

Braised Lamb Shank Pie
Serves 6
FOR THE PASTRY
400g puff pastry
beaten egg, to glaze
FOR THE FILLING
50g plain flour
6 lamb shanks
2 tbsp olive oil
4 red onions, quartered
8 cloves garlic
1 bottle full-bodied red wine
300ml beef stock
2 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
3 tbsp recurrant jelly
salt andpepper

1 Season the flour with salt and pepper and dust the shanks.

2 Heat the oil in a casserole dish and brown the shanks all over. Add any remaining flour and the onions and garlic and stir well.

3 Pour in the wine, stock, rosemary, redcurrant jelly and a good grinding of black pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 2 hours until the sauce is rich and thickened and the meat is falling away from the bones.

4 Remove the bones from the pan, reserving three of them and flake the rest into small pieces.

5 Preheat the oven to 200C. Spoon the mixture into a 2 litre pie dish. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3mm and 2cm bigger than the dish. Cut a 2cm strip of pastry. Brush the rim of the dish with a little water and place the pastry strip around the rim.

6 Sit the three bones into the pie filling at intervals along the length of the dish – these will act as pie funnels, releasing the steam as the pie is baking as will also stop the pastry from sinking into the filling and becoming soggy.

7 Cut three slits in the pastry at the same intervals as the lamb bones and place the pastry lid over the top, sliding it over it the bones. Press down the edges of the pastry to seal.

8 trim off any excess pasty and crimp the edges. Brush with the beaten egg and bake for 30 – 35 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.