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- - SOUR-CREAM PASTRY
- 3c - cake flour
- 1tsp - salt
- 250g - cold cubed butter
- 1c - sour cream
- - PIE FILLING
- 2kg - lamb on the bone (shoulder, neck or knuckles or a mixture of the three)
- 2c - water
- 1 - whole onion, peeled and spiked with 10 whole cloves
- 1 - bay leaf
- 5 - whole black peppercorns
- 1tsp - ground coriander
- 1 - garlic clove, crushed
- ½tsp - dried red chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
- 2tsp - mustard powder
- 2tsp - white sugar
- 2tsp - vinegar
- 2tsp - salt
- ½tsp - ground black pepper
- 5tsp - cornflour or potato flour mixed with a little cold water to make a paste
- 1 - whole onion, peeled and spiked with 5 whole cloves
- 1 - egg, beaten
Keep a pie plate (about 23cm) handy.
1 Sour-cream pastry Sift the flour and salt three times in a large bowl and use a small knife to cut in the butter. Make sure the knobs of butter remain pea-sized and that they don’t become like breadcrumbs.
2 Add the sour cream and cut in with a knife. When it’s well mixed, knead the dough until it holds together and makes a ball. Don’t add extra liquid, just carry on kneading lightly – the dough will become manageable and start to stick together.
3 Leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes or longer – overnight is best.
4 Roll out the dough into a square on a floured surface and fold it in half and then into quarters. Turn the dough parcel half a turn, so that the open side faces towards you.
5 Roll and fold once more in the same way. Let the dough rest for another 30 minutes.
6 Repeat the “roll and fold” twice more. The dough is now ready for use and can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for 3 months.
7 Pie filling In a large pot, gently simmer the lamb with the water, onion, bay leaf and peppercorns for about 2 hours until the meat is completely tender and starting to fall off the bone.
8 Remove the pot from the heat and allow the meat to cool in the liquid. Remove all fat, bone and gristle from the cooled lamb. Flake the meat lightly and return it to the stock in the pot.
9 Remove the onion, bay leaf and peppercorns. Add the coriander, garlic, chilli flakes or cayenne pepper, mustard, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper to the meat and bring to the boil. If too watery, thicken with the cornflour paste.
10 Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Dish the meat mixture into a pie plate. Put the second spiked onion in the middle to stop the pastry from sagging. Allow to cool.
11 Roll out the pastry until very thin, then use to cover the pie. Trim and scallop the edges and brush with the beaten egg.
12 Decorate with pastry leaves cut from the pastry offcuts. There will be pastry left over that you can store for another time.
13 Bake the pie for 1 hour in the preheated oven until golden brown.
