Steak & Cheese Pies — Food.Love.Family

Every craving is possible on Low Carb, even good old fashioned pies.

The inspiration for this pie came from the old days when my husband worked in Mayfair London, I would meet him for lunch occasionally, and we would go to The Guinea Grill Pub to get the best pub pies in town - like the recipe below it only had pastry on the top and luckily for us, our pie-eating days can continue because it works perfectly with fathead dough.

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INGREDIENTS

PIE FILLING

3 teaspoons coconut oil

1kg stewing beef in 2cm chunks (which is the cheapest beef you can buy)

Salt & pepper

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 bay leaves

A few springs of thyme

400ml chicken stock

150ml red wine

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

FAT HEAD DOUGH

250g grated mozzarella or half mozzarella/half cheddar (I like half/half for this recipe because you get more of a cheese flavour with the cheddar)

1 1/2 tablespoon cream cheese

125g cup almond flour/meal

1 large egg

METHOD

Preheat oven to 160c bake.

Season the meat with salt & pepper.

Heat a large fry pan to medium-high heat, melt 1 teaspoon of coconut oil.

Add the first batch of meat, sear till lightly browned to seal it. Be careful not to crowd the pan with too much meat in each batch, as the juices will run out and you will end up boiling it rather than searing it.

As each batch is browned, move it into an oven-proof casserole pot with lid, and start the next batch, adding another teaspoon of coconut oil, if frypan beginning to get sticky.

Turn to medium and add the last teaspoon of coconut oil with the sliced onions and crushed garlic. Cook for a few minutes to soften.

Add the stock and deglaze the pan and transfer everything into the casserole dish.

Add the wine, bay leaf, and thyme.

Put the lid on and cook in the oven for 45 minutes.

Stir the meat and cook for a further 45 minutes, with the lid back on.

After 1 1/2 hours, the meat should be tender and falling apart.

I have more than four pie dishes, so I used the additional upside down to cut the pastry, if you don't have spares then I suggest you trace around your pie dish onto baking paper and cut it out to use as your guide.

Use a slotted spoon and place the meat evenly in your pie dishes leaving the gravy in the casserole pot.

Use the hob to reheat the gravy, turn it up high and reduce the gravy by half. If you want a thicker gravy, sprinkle 1/2 teaspoons of xanthan gum (or cornflour) and stir vigorously until thick.

Once the desired thickness is reached, use a soup ladle to pour on meat.

Turn oven up to 200c.

While the filling cools and the oven heats up, make the Fat Head Dough.

Put the grated cheese and cream cheese in a microwaveable or heatproof bowl.

Microwave on high for 1 minute, stir then microwave on HIGH for another 30 seconds.

Or if you don't have a microwave, you can melt the cheese by sitting the heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water (like you do when you melt chocolate).

Once melted remove from heat and add the almond meal and egg and mix well, until forms dough.

Roll into 4 even balls.