Tender lamb, slow cooked in a minty gravy, with carrots, onions and pearl barley, topped with a hot water crust pasty lid, served with new potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli.
Another spring recipe! I made this pie a few weeks ago, after buying some lovely lamb neck from my local farmers market. Being British, I don’t think there anything that goes better with lamb than mint, so I decided to make a delicious lamb and mint pie!
I’ve made a basic lamb stew and mixed some home made mint sauce through at the end, which makes makes the sauce extra tasty. And I have used hot water crust pastry for the lid, because I find it really easy to work with, and it gives the robust finish that complements the meaty lamb stew really well.
I had my pie with some boiled new potatoes, coated in butter and some steamed purple sprouting broccoli, which was delicious, but you could serve this with whatever veg you want!
Variations: you could do something similar with pork and apple or pork and sage, by exchanging the meat, and replacing the mint sauce with apple sauce and fresh sage.
Ingredients: Serves 4
The Lamb
- 800g Bone-in Lamb Neck
- 1/2 an Onion
- 4 Cloves of Garlic
- 1 carrot
- 2 Handfuls of Pearl Barley
- 2 Litres of Chicken Stock
- Salt and Pepper
- 1tbsp Corn Four
The Mint Sauce:
- 1 Bunch of Fresh Mint
- 6tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Sugar
The Hot Water Crust Pastry:
- 250g Plain Flour
- 100g Lard
- 100g Water
- Pinch of Salt
To Serve:
- New potatoes
- Broccoli
To Make:
The Lamb:
Fry the onion, garlic and carrots in a large pan with a lug of olive oil. then add the lamb, stock and pearl barley, simmer for a few minutes, and then transfer to a slow cooker, and leave for 4-6 hour, until the lamb is tender and falling off the bone.
Once cooked, spoon out the lamp, carrots and pearl barley with a slotted spoon, and transfer to a baking dish, removing the lamb bones.
Pour the remaining stock into a pan and bring to the boil. mix the cornflour with a little water and stir though the stock, continue to cook until thickened. Then pour over the lamb until just covered. Set Aside.
The Mint Sauce
Finely chop the mint and transfer to a bowl.
Heat the sugar and vinegar in a pan until the sugar has dissolved – taste and add more vinegar/sugar as needed. Then pour over the finely chopped lamb.
Spoon half of the sauce into a serving dish, and the rest into the lamb stew mixture.
The Pastry:
Preheat the oven to 180°C
Weigh out the flour in a large bowl and mix with the salt.
Heat the water and lard in a small pan, until the lard has completely melted. Pour into the flour mixture and mix quickly, to form a ball of soft pliable dough.
Turn out onto a clean, floured work surface and roll out to around 1-2cm thickness (in the correct shape for your baking dish).
Place over the top of the lamp mixture and press the edges down with a fork. Make some leaf shapes with the remaining pastry for decoration.
Brush some egg wash over the pastry and bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, until the pasty is evenly browned.
Leave to cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Cut into 4 generous portions, and serve with new potatoes, greens and some extra mint sauce, delicious!
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