Lamb and rosemary pies

Any leftover filling can be served as a stew with baked potatoes or frozen for up to 1 month. The pastry is an excellent short, savoury version that’s perfect for pies. You can use store-bought pastry, but this yoghurt cream version is what really makes this pie. Be careful, as it’s really short and it’s often best to simply press it into place rather than trying to roll it out, especially in warm weather.

• makes

  6

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 850 g finely chopped lamb shoulder
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 250 ml (1 cup) dry white wine
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled, chopped
• 3 tsp rosemary leaves, chopped
• tomato sauce or relish, to serve

Yoghurt cream pastry

• 350 g plain flour, chilled
• 200 g chilled butter, chopped
• 150 g thick Greek-style yoghurt, chilled
• 50 ml thickened cream, chilled

Instructions

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until quite soft. Add garlic, carrots and celery, and cook for a further 4 minutes or until softened. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve the pan.

Dust lamb with the flour. Add remaining 1 tbsp oil to the reserved pan over high heat and cook lamb, in 2 batches, for 4 minutes or until starting to brown on all sides. Return lamb and vegetables to the pan with wine and tomatoes, and bring to the boil, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to ensure the lovely stuck-on bits get cooked into the sauce.

Add 2 tsp rosemary, 250 ml water and season with salt and pepper. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours or until the meat is tender. Add more water if necessary. Set aside to cool to avoid the filling seeping through the pastry.

Meanwhile, to make the yoghurt cream pastry, place the flour and ½ tsp salt in a bowl. Add butter and rub into the flour and salt until mixture resembles crumbs, working quickly so everything stays cool. (Alternatively, use a food processor.) Stir or pulse in the yoghurt and cream until just combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until cold.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry between layers of baking paper and cut into 6 x 14 cm rounds. Line the base and side of 6 x 10 cm x 2 cm pie or cast-iron pans and scatter with remaining 1 tsp rosemary. Top with the lamb filling.

Roll out remaining pastry to 6 x 12 cm rounds, place over pie filling and crimp together at the edges to avoid spillage. Trim roughly. Cut a cross in the top and bake for 15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Serve with a little tomato sauce or relish.

As seen in Feast magazine, Issue 10, pg34.

Photography by Alan Benson.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.