Beef With Black Olives Pie

Submitted by English_Rose

"Making this pie is a joy, as the smell of the Moroccan spices fill the house. If you like a bit of heat, add a teaspoon of harissa with the spices. It is also fabulous served with saffron mash. Recipe from the book Sophie Conran's Pies."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 50mins
• Ingredients: 22
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• FOR THE FILLING

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lb chuck steak, cut into 1 1/2 in cubes
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
• 1⁄2 ounce butter
• 3 onions, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 ounce flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 (14 ounce) can plum tomatoes
• 5 ounces black olives, pitted
• 2⁄3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• FOR THE PASTRY

• 9 ounces flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 3 1⁄2 ounces butter, cubed
• 7 tablespoons milk

directions

1. First make the filling. Heat the oil in a large casserole on a high heat. Coat the meat in the seasoned flour and fry until browned all over. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside.
2. Reduce the heat and add the butter to the pan. Stir in the onions and gently stew for 10 minutes or until translucent. Keep checking and stirring to make sure the onions do not burn.
3. Throw in the garlic, parsley and spices, and stir for a couple of minutes. Return the meat to the pan, then pour in the tomatoes, olives and water.
4. Stir through the tomato paste.
5. Mash up the tomatoes a bit with your spoon and scrape the bottom of the pan to keep it from sticking. Gently simmer for 2 hours - keep checking to make sure it does not burn or stick to the bottom of the pan and give it.
6. a gentle stir; add some more water if it starts to dry out.
7. While it is simmering, prepare the pastry. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
8. Rub in the butter between your thumb and fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the milk a little at a time and combine until you.
9. have a soft dough.
10. Depending on the type of flour you are using, you may need a little more or less milk than suggested. Roll the dough into a ball, cover it in cling film and pop it in the fridge until needed.
11. Preheat the oven to 425°F Once the filling has finished simmering and is an aromatic tender stew, with a nice thick rich sauce, remove the cinnamon stick.
12. Taste the filling and season it with salt and pepper accordingly. Pour the mixture into a medium pie dish.
13. Roll out the pastry to make a lid for the dish. Brush the edges of the dish with water so the lid will stick.
14. Cover the dish, press down the edges and trim. Cut a small hole in the top to let the steam escape, and bake the pie for 20 minutes.
15. I like to serve with boiled sweet potatoes, tossed in butter and chopped fresh parsley.

Reviews

[ChefLee]

Wow!! This is a really cool and unique Moroccan beef pot pie!!! The long simmer on these onions and other ingredients created a really sweet, interesting spice flavor and the turmeric in the pastry gave it a beautiful color when baked and a great flavor too!! While simmering, I used the liquid from my olives and another can of tomatoes instead of the water and I used oil instead of butter and a just a pinch cumin (I like cumin to come thru subtly in food) but kept all else the same. You definitely have to make time for this recipe, I was doing laundry and other stuff while my pot was simmering so I could watch it and keep stirring. I did add liquid from my olive and tomato juice a couple of times while simmering so this really reduces down into a lovely and thick sauce. This pie is very very rich, I was glad I served it with a light orange and lettuce salad (recipe#305174) to give a balance to the meal. Enjoyed this, thanks so much for the recipe!!

 

[bowhows]

This was a big hit at my house - I added some red pepper flakes to for some heat and cheated by using a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust.

 

[Chef Freckles]

So far, 5 stars! I modified this for my life and my family. I used Upstate New York venison steak cubes, which are very lean, skipped the parsley because I don't have any and it's 6* outside, and used a drained, 16 oz. bottle of home canned roma tomatoes instead of a can of plum tomatoes. The tomatoes should be equivalent. I'm also not making a piecrust, as I have a pre-made one that needs used up. The stew smells fabulous, and the spices are just so aromatic you might think of Belly Dancing and trips abroad. This is going into a casserole dish with one crust on top, as a potpie variation. I'll keep you posted if it doesn't turn out as fabulous as it started!