When I was growing up, we had a bit of family joke. Us youngsters would ask “what’s for supper?”, and be told that it was “wait and see pie”.
This happened so often, that “wait and see” pie actually became a specific meal – a steak and veg pie with a suet crust. It is one of my favourite dishes now, and while the exact recipe is a closely guarded secret, it is along these lines:
Wait and See pie
Serves approx 4-6
This is a two stage process – first you cook it on the hob, then transfer it into the oven, so it’s best to use a casserole dish that can do both. I guess you could transfer the filling into a casserole instead.
Ingredients:
Filling:
- 2x 450g cans of stewed steak in gravy
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large courgette, sliced
- 4 medium carrots, sliced
- mushrooms, celery, …. (to taste), sliced
Pastry:
- 225g self-raising flour
- 110g shredded suet
- salt and pepper
- cold water to mix
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 220°C (200° fan)
- Fry the chopped onion in a little oil until soft (about 5 mins)
- Add all the other veg, and gently cook for 10 minutes or so with the lid on.
- Add the meat, and simmer for another 5 – 10 minutes. You may need to add a spot of water/stock
- While the dish is simmering, make the pastry – mix the flour, suet, and seasoning together.
- Add a small amount (a tablespoon or so) of cold water, and mix using a spatula.
- Keep adding small amounts of water and mixing, until the mixture just stops falling apart, and has formed a dough that doesn’t stick to the bowl.
- Knead for a few minutes to a smooth elastic dough.
- Leave the dough to rest for 5 minutes.
- Roll out the dough to a circle that just covers the casserole, and plonk it on the top. The sauce will bubble around it, but that’s part of the meal! Transfer to the oven, and bake for 30-45 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
Notes
You can’t make the pastry in advance, as the self-raising magic starts as soon as the mixture gets wet. However, it’s so quick to make, this doesn’t really matter.