Step 1– Believe you can do it.

Step 2– Choose a pie that looks really impressive, but is actually pretty easy to make. Like this one.

Step 3– Eat some chocolate. This is an important step. No skipping.

Now let’s get cracking, shall we?

Step 4– Gather your ingredients. Start with the pastry. This is what holds your pie together, literally. We want it to be crumbly and buttery and perfect.

Step 5– Mix the meats. Here I’ve used chicken, pork, and ham. Say with me: there is no such thing as too much meat. Or chocolate. Eat another piece. It’ll give you the energy burst you need to keep going.

Step 6– Stuff the filling into the pastry. Also add your secret ingredient. I’ll tell you about that in a bit 🙂

Step 7– Cover the pie with a top layer of pastry. Cover any untidy bits with pretty pastry leaves. Add a foil chimney so the insides cook. Also tidy up a bit. Look how messy the table is!

Step 8– Put the pie in the oven to bake. Now eat some more chocolate. Play catch with your dog. Sing a song.

Step 9– Remove from the oven. Look- you did it!

Isn’t she a beauty?
Now after it cools a bit, transfer to a plate.

Step 10– Gather your friends. Slice the pie. Remember the secret ingredient? Surprise!
Boiled eggs! 🙂 Hidden inside the meat pie. Slice, share, and taste.

Step 11– Stand back and watch as everyone worships at your feet.

Kickass pie. You can do it. (With chocolate, of course).

Meat and egg pie
Largely adapted from: Step by step Baking

Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 1 and a 1/2 hours
Serves: 8
Eat this with: A fresh salad

Ingredients:

For the pastry

500 g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
2 tsp salt
75 g butter, chilled and cut into small pieces, plus extra for greasing
75 g dalda (or lard), chilled and cut into small pieces

For the filling

5 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled, plus 3 more eggs
450 g chicken mince
450 g pork mince
250 g ham, chopped into small pieces
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

For the pastry

1. Put the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and dalda, and mix gently with a fork until you have fine crumbs.
2. Add 150ml water and mix together briefly. Then place the dough on a floured surface and knead until smooth. Wrap in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Grease a 9inch tin with butter. Take about ¾ of the dough and roll it out on a floured surface. It should be the size of the tin, with about ½ inch overhang. Gently lift into the greased tin and press onto the base and sides.

For the filling and assembling

1. Put all the meat in a bowl. Add the lemon zest, nutmeg, all the herbs, and salt and pepper. Whisk 2 eggs and add to the meat. Mix everything together until the filling begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
2. Preheat the oven to 200º C. Put half the meat filling into the tin. Place the 5 hard-boiled eggs on top, at regular intervals. Cover with the remaining meat filling, and fold over the dough overhang.
3. Beat the remaining egg with a little salt and brush the edges of the pie with it.
4. Roll out the remaining dough and cover the top of the pie with it. With the extra bits of dough, carve out diamond shapes and mark veins in them with a knife. Arrange these all over the pie and brush with the egg glaze.
5. Make a chimney with some foil and insert it in the middle of the pie. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 1 hour. Then reduce the heat to 180º C, remove the foil chimney and bake for another 30 minutes. Let it cool slightly before removing from the tin. Slice and serve.