Sausage & Mash Pie with Onion Gravy

3 sausages, pre-cooked then sliced

2 small/medium potatoes, peeled and quartered

12oz (340g) shortcrust pastry

1 onion, finely sliced

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme

200ml of beef stock

3 knobs of butter

1 tablespoon of plain flour

A few splashes of milk

Salt

Pepper

preparation 10 mins • you cook for 22 mins • total time 1 hr 17 mins

Serves 2

Watch a 30 second preview of my cook-along video below

If you cannot view the video below, click here to download QuickTime from Apple's website.

Nothing says British more than sausage and mash. It's one of our nation's traditional favourites, and what could be better than to put it in a pie! Shortcrust pastry filled with mash and sausage pieces, and a generous helping of onion gravy oozing out. It's a pie lovers dream. This is a three part recipe. In part one, we roll out the pastry and start cooking the potatoes and onions. In part two, we fill the pies and cook them. In part three, we turn out the pies and serve.

Large saucepan of salted boiling water for the potatoes

Medium saucepan for the onions

Rolling pin

Colander

2 x 10 cm ramekins or pie dishes

Potato masher

Spoons to stir

Before you start, have the potatoes and onions ready. Have the pastry out, ready to be rolled. Put a large pan of salted boiling water on the hob. Put your medium saucepan on the hob on a medium heat, add a teaspoon of oil and a knob of butter. Now click here!

Before you start, preheat your oven to 190c, drain the potatoes and turn the heat off the onions. Have your cooked chopped sausages ready, along with the milk, stock and the remaning butter. Now click here!

Before you start remove the pies from the oven and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Now click here!

Put a large pan of salted boiling water on the hob. Put your medium saucepan on the hob on a medium heat, add a teaspoon of oil and a knob of butter and allow to melt. Add the onions to the buttery pan and stir. Add the potatoes to the boiling water and then turn the heat down on the onions to very low. Put a lid on the onion pan and leave both pans for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft enough to mash. Give the onions an occasional stir and they should be caramelised after the 15 minutes.

Whilst the potatoes and onions are cooking, roll out your pastry. Lightly flour your work surface then roll out a rough circle that's approximately twice the size of the ramekin and about half a cm thick. Gently ease the pastry into the first ramekin and press into the base to get a nice flat bottom to your pie. Press firmly against the sides of the dish to flatten the pastry and create a nice pie shape! Trim off any excess, leaving about 1cm of pastry overhanging the top. Gather up the pastry in a ball and roll it out again, this time to create the pie lid. Use the base of the ramekin as a size guide, but make the pastry lid about 1cm bigger than the ramekin. Repeat for the other dish so that you have two ramekins lined with pastry, with two lids set aside.

When the potatoes are ready, turn the heat off both pans, drain the potatoes and return to their pan. Mash the potatoes then add a knob of butter and a few splashes of milk. Stir this together with a good pinch of salt. Turn the heat back on the onions and add in the last knob of butter. Once it has melted, stir in a tablespoon of plain flour. Stir the flour over a low heat for about a minute, then add the stock, a splash at a time, stirring constantly so that the liquid is incorporated before adding the next splash. Once all the stock has been added, you can build the pies.

Put 1-2 dessert spoons of mash at the bottom of each pie, then layer the sausages on top. Spoon in the gravy in, leaving a gap of about 1cm from the top of the ramekins so that you have room to put your lids on. Place your pastry lids on top, then pinch the overhanging pastry together to make a good join. Do this all the way round the top of both pies, then trim away any excess with a knife.

Pop the pies on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Allow to stand for a good 10 minutes. To turn out, gently ease the tip of a knife under the rim of the pie to loosen it from the sides. Invert it over a plate and then remove the ramekin and turn it back up the right way. Sometimes these pies can be a little stubborn so don't worry if they don't come out first time. Loosen the pastry a little more with a knife, then try again.

I hope that you enjoy them.

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