Braised lamb shanks, tender potatoes, and peas baked in a butter crust.
Savory pies are my favorite pies to make. They are an all-in-one dinner with tender meat, assorted veggies, flavorful gravy, and a buttery crust to hold it all together. They do require a good bit of time and effort, but are well worth the wait!
Hot water pie crust is traditional for this type of pie. But I much prefer the richness from a butter crust. Butter crusts require resting to fully hydrate. I like to make the crust the day before I plan to use it. The butter in the crust will solidify after being refrigerated for that amount of time. So allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before rolling.
These are individually molded pies that require conical molds to cover the meat from the shank. If you do not have molds, you can use soup bowls, coffee cups, make your own, or strip the meat from the bone and make one large pie. I made molds for these pies using aluminum foil and ramekins. To do this, I simply measured and cut a piece of foil an inch larger than the ramekin’s circumference. Then, I folded the foil four times, into a long rectangle, to make it sturdy. And finally, I crimped the two ends together and inserted the foil into the ramekin.
If you make you own molds for the pies, the sides might not brown as quickly as the top. As you can see from this picture. Bake the pies for 20 minutes or until the crust sets. Remove the pies from the mold, brush with more egg wash and bake for another 20-30 minutes.
The sauce for these pie is made by blending vegetable into liquid. This is one of my favorite ways to make a sauce from a braise. The vegetables thicken the cooking liquid without flour and all of their flavor gets blended into the sauce. Oh so yummy!
Lamb Shank Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 stick butter
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp water
Pie
- 2 lamb shanks
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1-2 carrots chopped 3/4 cup
- 1/4 onion chopped 3/4 cup
- 3 sprig oregano
- 3 sprig thyme
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pinch chii flake
- 1/4 cup sherry
- 4 cup beef stock
- 1 potato diced 1 1/2 cups
- 3/4 cup peas
- 1 egg for wash
Instructions
Crust
- Mix egg, water, and vinegar. Refrigerate until ready to use. Mix flour and salt. Cut the butter into the flour. Combine with the egg mixture. Knead the dough 3-4 times. Cut it in half, form into a disc, wrap, and refrigerate 1-24 hours.
Pie
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season the shanks with salt and pepper. Heat an oven safe pan over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan. Sear the lamb on all sides. Add the carrots, onions, garlic, herbs, chili flake, and bay leaf. Deglaze the pan with sherry. Add the beef stock to the pan. Bring to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven. Cook for 2 hours or until lamb is tender. Remove the lamb and herbs from the pan. Pour the sauce and vegetables in a blender container. Blend until smooth and pour back into the pan. Add the potatoes to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender and sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cool the sauce to room temperature and stir in the peas.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll each of the dough discs to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut top crusts from the dough. Fill molds with the dough. Spoon some of the sauce into the molds. Place lamb shakes in the molds. Fill with the remaining sauce. Cut a hole in the top crust for the bone. Place the top over the pie and press to seal. Brush with egg wash. Cook in the oven for 30-45 minutes or until browned. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
