Lamb, Anchovy & Green Olive Pie

Easter is my favourite. I love it so much more than I do Christmas. There is no end of year rush, there are no end of year parties and there is NO pressure. All you are required to do is take at minimum four days off, eat, drink and relax. Easter in Australia feels like what Christmas in Europe is. It is cooler and cosy, you want to eat hearty things and enjoy being inside with friends playing card games. Whereas Christmas in Australia feels like it is so often something to ‘get through’.

It turned so cold so quickly this Easter in Melbourne so I made something extremely hearty for Easter Sunday supper. A Lamb, anchovy and green olive pie. You can make it easy with pre-made pastry or you can turn it into a labour of love and make your own short crust. Either way this is the ultimate feast of a pie for at least 10 ppl and 12ppl w/ sides.

Ingredients

1.5kg leg of lamb – Bone removed and butterflied – chopped into 8cm pieces

500ml Chicken Stock

250ml dry white wine

20 - 25 green olives (pip removed)

3 springs of rosemary (leaves removed and finely chopped_

8 Anchovies

1 carrot finely chopeed

1 celery stick finely chopped ( if you cant buy one stick remove and don’t buy a whole bunch)

60g plain flour - enough to coat all the lamb pieces well

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

1 packet short crust and puff pastry ***see note below

1 egg

2 tbsp of milk

Method

Coat the lamb pieces in flour and on a medium heat, heat the olive oil in a large pot.

Fry off lamb in batches, browning the outsides and remove from the pot into a large bowl and put aside.

Finely chop the carrot, celery and onion and fry on a low heat in the same pot until softened.

Still on a low heat add in garlic, rosemary and anchovies, cooking until the anchovies are nearly dissolved.

Increase the heat to a medium heat and add in the wine scraping all the bits off the bottom of the pot.

Reduce the wine by half and then add the chicken stock.

Return the lamb pieces to the pot and simmer on a low heat with the lid on for 2 ½ hours or until the meat easily pulls apart.

Once the lamb is ready remove it from the pot with a slotted spoon and shred it, tearing it apart with two forks.

Reduce the sauce on a high heat until you have a thick sauce (reduce it by ¾).

Drain the olives reserving 2 tbsp of the brine for the sauce, roughly chop the olives and add to lamb back to the sauce and mix combining everything.

Cool the mixture completely before adding it to the pastry.

Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Roll out the short crust and add the mixture, piling it high leaving at least 2cm of pastry at the edge.

Roll over the puff pastry over the top using your fingers or a fork to seal the edges and cut a hole at the top of the pastry so the filling can breathe while cooking.

Beat together the egg and milk. Brush the egg wash all over the pastry and cook until the pastry is golden brown all over (30minutes). 

 *** You can make a shortcrust that is perfect and doesn’t take too much time or effort - It is also so much cheaper than purchasing. Use this one, don’t add the sugar and double it - Making two flat squares before you chill it. If you purchase use this one for the puff and this one for the shortcrust.