Propah Eastend Pie, Mash and Licqour

I'm an Essex girl by birth and an Eastender by heritage, so pie mash and licquor was a childhood treat. You can imagine my horror upon moving to Kent to find that no one outside of London has even heard of the dish, let alone tasted it. So I languished for years without. Sure, I could just get a meat pie and somemash, but normal meat pies are not the same, and the licqour is just impossible. Fortunately, through much experimenting my Mum and I now have a suitable substitute that tastes as good (or bad!) as the real thing!

• Ready In: 55 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1  white onion
• 500  g beef mince
• 50  ml  beef stock
• 2  teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 340  g self raising flour
• 225  g beef suet
• 4  tablespoons water
• 1 (425 g) packet premade puff pastry (I got lazy here)
• 2  pints  fish stock
• 2⁄3 pint  vegetable stock
• 30  g  chopped fresh parsley
• 1  lb potato
•  cornflour
•  salt and pepper
•  chilli vinegar
• 1 (250 g) packet  dried  marrowfat peas

Directions

1. To make the suet pastry base for the pies, combine the flour, suet and water with a pinch of salt, adding more water if needed, to form a rollable dough.
2. Roll the suet pastry very thin, approximately 2mm at most, and line buttered foil pie cases with it.
3. Finely chop the onion and brown, then add the beef mince. Cook until the beef is browned and add the beef stock, worcester sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 20 min on a medium heat, then drain excess juice and add a little cornflour to absorb the rest.
4. Meanwhile, peel, quarter and boil the potatoes.
5. Roll out the puff pastry (shortcrust is also acceptable) until almost as thin as the pastry bases and cut tops for each pie.
6. Spoon the beef mixture evenly amongst the pies, then apply the tops to the pie using a little water to moisten the edges for pinching.
7. Add about an inch of water to a roasting tray and put in the oven on a high heat. Sit the foil pie dishes in the water to steam cook the pies.
8. While the pies are cooking, combine the fish and vegetable stock in a pot with the parsley and a pinch of salt. Cook on a medium heat to a rolling boil. Add cornflour gradually until the sauce becomes thick and slightly translucent.
9. Once the potatoes are cooked to a soft, fluffy consistency drain them and mash without butter to produce a dry mash.
10. Prepare the dried peas according to packet instructions.
11. Once pies are brown on top, upturn them on a plate and serve upside-down, with a side of mash and mushy peas. Pour over with the licqour and chilli vinegar. The vinegar is essential for the licqour to taste right, but should be added separately. Lush!