Minced beef and Potato Pies - The Low Calorie Way!

cherryblossombabe

Hi Guys!

This is a recipe from one of the Hairy Bikers Dieting books.."The Hairy Dieters" I can not recommend their books highly enough! The recipes are fantastic, real good wholesome foods that are low calorie but still taste as good as ever!! I have cooked a good few of these recipes over the past few weeks and really want to share them with you guys so you can try them out for yourself...

This recipe makes 6 individual minced beef pies ALSO you will need some small individual foil pie dishes for this recipe so make sure you have these before you crack on..

Per portion= 335 Calories

For the pie filling you will need :

• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 small carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 celery sticks, trimmed and finely sliced
• 250g lean minced beef (less than 10% fat)
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp brown sauce
• 1/2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 200g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 300ml beef stock, made with 1 beef stock cube
• 75g frozen peas

For the pie pastry you will need :

• 2 x 145g packets of pizza base mix
• about 200ml lukewarm water
• plain flour, for kneading and rolling
• 1 - 2 tbsp semi - skimmed milk

To Do!

Start with the pie filling first..
Put the onion, carrots, celery and beef together in a large no-stick saucepan and dry-fry over a high heat for 2-3 minutes, until the beef is no longer pink. Keep stirring with a couple of wooden spoons to break up the mince.

Reduce the heat and add the ketchup, brown sauce, worcestershire sauce, flour, chilli powder and black pepper. Cook for 1 minute, then add the potatoes and stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cover loosely. Simmer for 25 minutes until the potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. If necessary, remove the lid for the last 5 minutes and stir more regularly until the mixture is thick. Remove from the heat, stir in the frozen peas and leave to cool completely.

Next is the pie pastry..
To make the pastry, put the pizza base mixes in a large bowl and mix with lukewarm water according to the packet instructions. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Preheat the oven to 200*C/Fan 180*C/Gas 6.

Using the scales, divide the dough into 6 even portions - each will be about 80g. From each portion, take off 35g of the dough to use for the pie lids. Roll out the larger piece of each portion on a lightly floured surface until it is about 3mm thick and large enough to line your foil pie dish, leaving a little overhanging the sides. Lift into a pie dish and press down well into the base and sides. This can be a little tricky at first time round, but the dough is very forgiving, so take it slowly until you've got the hang of the method.

Spoon a sixth of the mince and potato mixture into the pie case. Brush the overhanging edges with a little milk. Roll out the smaller of pastry until it is large enough to cover the pie dish. Lift it on top of the pie and pinch the pastry firmly together. Trim with kitchen scissors - using scissors will stop the dough stretching.

Repeat exactly the same process to make the other 5 pies and place then on a baking tray. Snip once in the centre of each pastry lid with scissors to create a large hole for steam to escape. Brush the pies generously with more milk.

Bake the pies for 15 minutes, then remove them from the oven and cover each one fairly tightly with foil. Put them back in the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the pies are pale golden brown and the filling is pipping hot. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before removing the foil, then tuck in!