The tastiest pie I've had in a long time - an easy recipe

Last weekend we went to a traditional farmer's market in our town and stumbled upon a pie seller. A pie labelled as "Kiwi pie" caught our eye and long story short, it was so delicious I had to try recreate again at home. 

So, despite the name, this Kiwi pie does not contain fruits, birds or New Zealanders (as was asked by our five year old...). It is a traditional New Zealand recipe, using minced beef and cheddar. The beef is cooked and then layered with cheddar in the pie and oh my wasn't it just delicious when you got little bombs of cheese with your juicy savoury meat. 

I'm always keen to try healthy recipes and get my fussy kid eating something good for her. With beef being naturally rich in protein and containing iron, helping reduce tiredness and fatigue, and this dish going beautifully with green beans and mash, I was happy this fit the bill! The pie was so delicious I even got her to eat her beans (as apparently the taste of the beef pie covered the taste of the beans ha ha). To add a bit more of vegetables into the meal I also added sweet potato to the pie, although this is not in the traditional recipe.

So without further ado, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Splash of vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
500g of minced beef
small sweet potato, cubed
3tbs flour
500ml beef stock
1tbs Marmite (or Vegemite,or Worchester sauce)
2tbs tomato puree
black pepper
mixed herbs
salt to taste (with extra mature cheese not much needed!)

150g mature or extra mature cheddar cheese, cubed

Shortcrust pastry (two ready-rolled ones or one on 500g)
Egg to brush

Method:

Use a large saucepan, heat up vegetable oil and fry the onion for about 3 minutes until soft and golden. Add garlic and fry about 1 minute. Add the minced beef, fry until brown, and break up any large chunks. Add sweet potato and flour, and mix into the beef. Add stock, Marmite, and tomato puree, with salt, black pepper and mixed herbs to taste, turn down the heat and let simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Take off heat, and cool down in the fridge for 1-2 hours until cold. Grease up a pie dish (I used a 18cm spring form tin) and line with one short-crust pastry sheet, leaving extra pastry hand off the sides. Mix the cheese cubes in the beef, and ladle in the pie. Add the other short-crust pastry sheet on top, crimp up the edges, and brush with a whisked egg.

Bake immediately, 10 minutes in 220 Celsius (200 fan oven), and then turn down to 180 Celsius (160 fan oven) and bake further 1 hour.

Take out and let rest for about 15 minutes, and enjoy with green beans and mash!

I love trying new recipes, especially from lands afar, and this was a real winner in the taste department! If it is good enough to convince my five year old to eat her greens, well, it's going in my good books. I hope you enjoy it too - and like I mentioned it is perfect with some green beans or peas and mashed potatoes.

What kind of pies are your favourite ones?

This post is an entry to for the #MeatMatters Challenge, sponsored by Simply Beef and Lamb. Learn more about the benefits of cooking and eating beef and lamb along with recipe ideas and inspiration here!

You might also like: Toad-in-the-hole with a healthy twist and Asian-inspired beef wrap

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