Dr Mobeus
Corned Beef Pie
For generations, a tin of corned beef in the cupboard meant one thing for Sunday tea: a proper corned beef pie. It was the dish that carried families through lean weeks, and it is still one of the best-value pies you can make from scratch.
The magic is in what happens to the corned beef. As it warms with the onions, stock and potato, it breaks down into a thick, mince-like filling that looks and tastes like it took far more effort than it did. A whole pie costs about £3.20 with supermarket value-range prices, which works out at around 80p a portion.
Serve it hot with peas and gravy, or let a slice go cold in a lunchbox the next day. Like most things involving pastry and onions, it is somehow even better the second day.
Corned Beef Pie
Ingredients
Method
- Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onions for 8-10 minutes until soft and golden.
- Crumble in the stock cube, add 150ml of water and the diced potato and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Gently fold in the corned beef and the ketchup if using. The corned beef will break down into a thick, mince-like filling. Season with pepper, taste, and only add salt if it needs it because corned beef is already salty. Set the filling aside to cool while you roll the pastry.
- Roll out slightly more than half the pastry on a floured surface and use it to line a 20cm pie dish. Spoon in the cooled filling.
- Roll out the rest for the lid, lay it over the top and crimp the edges together with your fingers or a fork. Brush the top with milk and cut two slashes in the middle to let the steam out.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until deep golden brown. Let the pie rest for 10 minutes before slicing so the filling sets up.
Tips and Variations
The ketchup sounds odd but it rounds out the flavour of the filling, so do not skip it. Let the filling cool a little before it goes into the pastry, because steam is what makes pie bottoms soggy. A handful of frozen peas folded through the filling adds colour for pennies. The uncooked pie also freezes well, so make two while the oven is on.
