Brontë Pie - Emily Brontë's Favourite Meat Pie!

Um Safia's Note:

It is said that whilst in Belgium 1843, Emily wrote to her sister Charlotte Brontë, saying that she would rather be in Haworth House (Haworth, Yorkshire) making this pie than be abroad... This recipe comes from Hidden England, where it also says you can use chicken or turkey breast in place of the beef.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 lbs sirloin or 2 lbs filet of beef
• 1 onion , chopped into small pieces
• 1 lb puff pastry
• 6 ounces chicken pate
• 1 egg
• 3 ounces butter
• 6 ounces button mushrooms
• black pepper (course ground)

Directions:

1. Trim off any large pieces of fat from the meat. Chop into small cubes then season with a little black pepper and salt.
2. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Put in the meat cubes and cook in the butter until the outside of the meat is sealed all over. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan and put to one side.
3. Heat the oven to 200oC / 400oF / gas mark 6.
4. Add a little more butter to the pan, if needed, and fry the chopped onion and the button mushrooms in the mixture of butter and meat juices. Continue to fry until most of the juices have gone from the pan but take care not to burn anything. Put these to one side too.
5. Roll out the puff pastry on a flour covered surface until it is rectangular in shape. The pastry has to be big enough to wrap the meat in to make a 'pastry envelope'.
6. Take the onion / mushroom mixture and spread it onto the pastry, then put the sealed meat on top of the onion / mushroom mixture.
7. Spread the pate onto the meat then brush all round the edges of the pastry rectangle with an egg that has been beaten.
8. Make the envelope with the pastry to hold the meat and onions. Seal the edges by squeezing together the egg covered pastry edges where they meet.
9. Brush all the visible pastry with the remainder of the egg (helps make the pastry go brown).
10. Bake in the centre of the heated oven for 20 minutes.
11. Keeping the pie in the oven, turn down the heat to 180oC / 350oF / gas mark 4 and leave for another 15 minutes. The pastry should be a lovely golden brown in colour.