Squib pie

 

Film night at KitchenFairies HQ again - which means firing up the imagination (and Google).  The film was Official Secrets, and the whistleblower was employed by GCHQ - so I found some traditional Gloucestershire recipes.  Well one (and adapted it a bit) - and we had double gloucester and crackers for "pudding".

The traditional squib pie would have been made with mutton, onions and apples - flavoured with nutmeg - and baked for 2 hours.

We don't like pudding with dinner so omitted nutmeg, but I did include the apple - bulked it out a bit with swede and potato.  It worked very well!

Onions

Olive oil

Diced lamb

Swede

Potato

Apple

Flour

Stock

Flour

Butter

Plain yogurt

1.  Sweat off chopped onion in olive oil.

2.  Add diced lamb and brown a bit.

3.  Chop swede, potato and apples into small dice, add to the meat mixture.  Season.

4.  Stir and cook a bit, then add a spoonful of flour and sir in - to help thicken the gravy.  Pour in a pint or so of stock and simmer until its cooked.

5.  Meanwhile make the pastry, rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs, add a spoonful of plain yogurt and work into a paste.  Chill for at least 30 mins.

6.  Keep stirring the meat mixture.  When it's reduced down transfer to a pie dish, cover with foil, and put in a medium oven to keep cooking gently.

7.  Roll out pastry and cover the meat mixture with it.  Wash with soya milk (or dairy milk).

8.  Bake at 180 for 35-40 minutes.

9.  Steam carrots and cabbage.

10.  Serve, scoff ... was delicious.