Party Pies
Instructions
1 Heat oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Dust steak in flour, shake off excess, and cook in batches until golden, stirring occasionally (3-5 minutes), remove from saucepan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add shallots and garlic to pan, saut until golden (3-5 minutes). Add red wine, reduce by half (3-4 minutes), then add stock and thyme. Reduce heat to low, add steak, cover and simmer until tender (2-2 hours). Uncover and cook until sauce is thick (30-40 minutes). Season to taste, set aside to cool, then refrigerate until cooled completely.
2 Meanwhile, for shortcrust pastry, process flour, butter and 1 tsp salt in a food processor until just combined. Add 80ml iced water, a little at a time, and pulse until a dough forms. Form into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest (1 hour).
3 Preheat oven to 200C. Roll shortcrust pastry to 5mm thick and cut twelve 9cm-diameter rounds. Line a 12 x 60ml-capacity muffin tray with pastry and refrigerate to rest (30 minutes). Meanwhile, cut twelve 7cm-diameter rounds of puff pastry and refrigerate until required.
4 Divide pie mixture among pastry cases, fold in pastry edges, then brush with eggwash and top with puff pastry circles. Press edges together and refrigerate to rest (30 minutes), brush with eggwash and cook until golden and cooked through (15-20 minutes). Serve with tomato sauce.
Note We prefer to use Carme butter-puff pastry. For this recipe, weve used shortcrust pastry on the base and puff pastry on top to add a buttery, flaky finish. You can use all shortcrust pastry, if preferred.
