Mince and Lentil Pie

We're like most families. We try and stick to a tight budget and we plan meals around what we can buy. This results in us not eating a lot of meat and when we do I usually try and stretch it further by shredding chicken here or adding lentils there. This is one of those cases. And it's delicious. I based the recipe off a steak pie recipe that I inherited from Phil (He's a really great cook, you know). I added a little of this and changed a bit of that. This mince and lentil pie is amazing and SUPER filling. Both Phil and I commented on how much more filling it is vs. just a mince pie. Did I mention it's ridiculously delicious? I'll be honest and say that you don't even really notice the lentils. They just blend right in making this a great choice for picky eaters.

We'll be making this again soon!

Mince and Lentil Pie

2/3 cup of dried lentils
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion (I sometimes use more depending on the size of the onion)
1 pound of ground beef
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tablespoons oil (I just eyeball it)
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp celery seed
black pepper
pinch of chili pepper
1/8 cup of worcestershire sauce
1/8 cup of soy sauce
2 cups of beef stock

2 Frozen pre-made flaky crusts

Rinse lentils and boil on medium heat for 10 minutes (you want them to be partially cooked and still have a bite to them, they will finish cooking with the pie filling).Drain and set aside. In a hot pan add the oil, garlic, and onion and saute until soft. Add the ground beef and brown the meat. Add the lentils and mix. Sprinkle the mixture with flour and mix again. Add the spices, worchestershire sauce, and soy sauce and cook until liquid is almost gone. Add the stock and cook until the meat is coated in a thick gravy (I usually add more flour here to thicken it up nicely to go in the pie. It needs to be thick so you can cut slices). Transfer to container and cool.

Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Roll out your pie crusts to your desired thickness and place one in pie tin. Fill the pie with the lentil mixture and top with the other pie crust. Pinch the crusts together and trim around the sides. Score the top and brush with a bit of oil. Bake until golden brown.