Pies!

It was pie day yesterday, and an historic one at that. We managed to recreate the Colling family traditional 'Leaf pie' (no, not full of spinach, but one with leaves carved from pastry on the top!). Rob created the stew mix for the filling on Saturday - after three hours of slow simmering on the hob top, the braising steak, carrots, onions, potato, mushrooms, wine, stock, worcester sauce, soy sauce and seasonings had been transformed into a beautiful stodge (trust me, it tasted far far better than it looked). I then created the shortcrust pastry on Sunday morning, to a Bradley recipe, lined a pie dish, chucked the filling in, topped with a pastry lid, carved out the leaves, and stuck in the oven for about 45 minutes. It was amazing - rich, sticky and meaty, with a crusty pastry top. Magic. If only we had the time to make this more often....