Steak and Kidney Pie 0

British cooking is not known for highness of its cuisine.

When I spent my junior year in England, lo! these many moons ago, I fell in love with Indian restaurants, which were as common there as Chinese restaurants were here. The one strictly English dish I really liked was steak and kidney pie.

Recently, I found a beef kidney at a local market, and I made a steak and kidney pie, using one of the recipes from Craig Claiborne’s New York Times International Coookbook.

Be forewarned: the result is very rich.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 lbs. beef, preferably top sirloin
• 4 veal kidneys (I had one beef kidney weighing about 2 1/2 lbs.)
• salt and pepper
• nutmeg
• 1/4 cp. butter
• 1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced thin
• 1/4 cp. chopped shallots (I used spring onions)
• 1 tbs. minced garlic
• 1 tbs. dried tarragon
• 1 cp. drained canned tomatoes, quartered (you could also use diced tomatoes)
• 1 cp. dried white wind (I used dry sherry)
• 1 1/2 cps. brown sauce or 1 10 3/4 oz. can beef gravy
• 1 tsp. chopped thyme
• 5 hard-boiled eggs
• Pastry for crust
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tbs. water

Procedure:

1. Cut beef into 1″ cubes. Sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

2. Cut kidneys similarly.

3. Saute beef in approx. 1/2 the butter. Remove when browned.

4. Saute kidney in the same skillet. Remove when browned.

5. Add remaining butter to the skillet, then add mushrooms. When the mushrooms are limp, add shallots, tarragon, tomatoes, garlic, and wine. Stir in brown sauce and thyme. Bring to a boil, stirring, then simmer for ten minutes or until the meat is tender.

6. Pour the mixture into a 2 1/2 qt. casserole and allow to cool to lukewarm. (I used two 1 1/2 qt. casseroles so I could freeze one.)

7. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Meanwhile, slice the eggs in quarters lengthwise and place them on top of the mixture. Cover with the pie crust, being sure to make a slash so the steam can escape. (My pie crust skills are sorely lacking–the crust broke in a couple of spots.) Brush with beaten egg and water.

8. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees for half an hour or until the crust is nicely browned.