Ask a Chef reveals the secrets of those superb dishes you ate in cafes and restaurants and wanted to try yourself.
The Topiary Cafe's beef pasties
Ingredients
1kg diced beef rump
2 onions, roughly diced
1 carrot, roughly diced
1 stick celery, roughly diced
mixed herbs
3 dessert spoons tomato paste
500ml red wine stock to cover
savoury pastry
Method
Heat some oil in a large pot and brown the meat in batches. Remove from the pot as it browns.
Add diced vegetables and herbs and saute until softened. Stir in tomato paste, cook for 2-3 minutes.
Return the meat to the pot. Add the red wine and cook until the wine has reduced by half.
Cover with stock, put the lid on the pot and simmer until the meat is tender and the liquid reduced. Allow to cool.
Roll out pastry and cut into rounds. Place a large spoonful of the cold beef mix in the centre, bring the edges together and fold them over to seal.
Brush with egg wash (an egg whisked with a little water) and bake at 170degC for 20 minutes.
Requested by Colleen Niovara, of Balclutha.
This recipe comes from The Topiary Cafe at Wal's Plant Land in Mosgiel.
• If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin, fax 474-7422, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz, including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.
