Meat pie with a crisp filo top
100 min · 30 g protein · 307 cals / serving
Everything you want from the footy pie, rich peppery beef in thick gravy, baked in one dish under a shattering lid of filo instead of a pastry case. Mushrooms, carrot and a handful of lentils simmer into the filling, so a smaller amount of lean mince makes six hearty slices.
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 350 g mushrooms, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 600 g ground beef (95% lean)
- 30 g tomato paste
- 80 g lentils, brown or green, rinsed
- 600 ml beef broth
- 3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper, a proper pie wants plenty
- 5 tsp cornstarch, mixed with 5 tsp cold water
Top
- 4 sheets phyllo dough
- a few sprays cooking spray, olive oil
To serve
- 45 g ketchup
Steps
- Warm the oil in a wide pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms have given up their liquid and it has cooked away, 10–12 minutes.
- Add the mince and break it up as it browns, until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F. Stir in the tomato paste and fry for a minute until it darkens.
- Add the lentils, broth, Worcestershire, thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer, partly covered, for 35–40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the lentils are completely soft and have melted into the meat. Heat the oven to 390°F fan-forced for the last 15 minutes.
- Stir in the cornflour slurry and simmer 2 minutes more, until the gravy is thick and glossy, the way it is inside a bought pie. Taste for salt and pepper, then tip into a deep 23 cm pie dish or 6 individual dishes.
- Spray each filo sheet lightly with oil, scrunch it loosely (tear the sheets in half first for individual dishes), and lay them over the filling until it is covered edge to edge. Bake 15–20 minutes, until the filo is deep golden and the filling bubbles at the edges and is 165°F in the center. Rest 5 minutes and serve with tomato sauce.
Good to know
Will anyone notice the lentils?
Not after 40 minutes in beef gravy. Brown lentils soften and take on the flavor of the filling, and with the grated carrot and mushrooms they read as part of the mince.
Can I make it ahead?
The filling keeps 3 days in the fridge and freezes well. Cover it with filo just before baking, and give a cold filling 10 minutes longer so the center heats through.
Why scrunch the filo?
Loose folds catch the heat and shatter like a pastry lid, and you need far fewer sheets than you would flat. Keep the unused sheets under a damp tea towel while you work so they don't crack.
Alternatives
Per
- Calories
- 123
- Protein
- (40%)
- 12 g
- Fat
- (26%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (34%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 387 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1843 kcal goes into the pot and 2105 g of ingredients comes out as about 1500 g of food: 123 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.