Ingredients

Method

For the pastry: 
• 390 g cake flour  
• 1 t salt
• 250 g cold butter, cubed 
• 1 cup sour cream  
For the filling: 
• 2 kg lamb on the bone (shoulder, neck or knuckles, or a mixture of the three)  
• 2 cups water 
• 1 whole onion, peeled and spiked with 10 whole cloves  
• 1 bay leaf 
• 5 whole black peppercorns
• 1 t ground coriander
• 1 garlic clove, crushed  
• ½ t dried red chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
• 2 t mustard powder
• 2 t white sugar 
• 2 T vinegar  
• 2 t salt 
• ½ t ground black pepper
• 5 t 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 free-range egg, beaten

Method

Ingredients

1. To make the pastry. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl three times and use a small knife to cut in the butter. The knobs of butter should stay pea-sized and not become like breadcrumbs.

2. Add the sour cream and cut in with a knife. When it is 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. Allow the dough to rest in a bowl covered with clingwrap or beeswax paper for 30 minutes or longer – overnight is best.

4. Roll out the dough into a square on a floured surface, fold it in half and then into quarters. Turn the dough parcel half a turn, so that the open side faces towards you. Roll and fold once more in the same way. Allow the dough to rest in a bowl covered with clingwrap or beeswax paper for 30 minutes. Repeat the “roll and fold” twice more. The dough is now ready for use and can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 3 months.

5. To make the filling, in a large saucepan, simmer the lamb very gently 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. Remove the pan 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 pan. Remove the onion, bay leaf and peppercorns.

6. Add the coriander, garlic, chilli flakes or cayenne pepper, mustard, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper to the meat and bring it to the boil. If too watery, thicken with the cornflour paste.

7. Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Spoon the meat mixture into a pie plate, about 23 cm in diameter. Place the second spiked onion in the middle to stop the pastry from sagging. Allow to cool.

8. Roll out the pastry very thinly and use to cover the pie. Trim and scallop the edges and brush with the beaten egg. Decorate with pastry leaves cut from the pastry offcuts. There will be pastry left over that you can store for another time.

9. Bake the pie for 1 hour until golden brown.

Notes

• You can make your own sour cream for the pastry by adding 2 T lemon juice to fresh cream. Or you can use half fresh cream and half plain yoghurt.
• This pastry can be used for savoury or sweet dishes.
• The lamb pie can be prepared well in advance and frozen before baking.

Find more pie recipes here

Extracted with permission from Recipes to Die Live For: A Tannie Maria Cookbook by Sally Andrew. The book is published by Penguin Random House South Africa

Photographer: Ed O'Riley