Gluten Free Beef brisket, carrot and celery pie - with a delicious pastry top

I recently cooked a small brisket of beef in the slow cooker and this pie is using some of the left over meat from the joint, I actually managed to stretch the meat to 3 separate meals, along with this pie I also served the meat simply with gravy like a roast dinner and in a pan haggerty (that's a post for another day).

Brisket isn't the cheap cut it used to be but its reliable easy to cook especially if you use a slow cooker like I do and it produces delicious gravy too. I just cooked the brisket for 6 hours on high after smothering the join in a mix of Dijon mustard, BBQ spice rub, tomato ketchup and maple syrup. I didn't add an extra liquid.

This is frugal dish as it used a fairly small quantity of meat, the leftover gravy and carrots and celery to bulk up the pie filling. I then created a gluten free pastry top and if I do say so myself it tasted pretty amazing.

Fresh out of the oven 

If you don't have left over brisket or roast beef then this pie could be made with minced beef or lamb and any suitable vegetables you have to hand. The gluten free pastry was very well behaved, the secret being allowing it to rest in the fridge for about half an hour before rolling out and a liberally brushing with an egg glaze before baking so you achieve a beautiful golden top.

What you need 

For the pie filling

• Quantity of left over beef -chopped into bite sized pieces
• Carrots and celery - parboiled until just tender
• Gravy - I used thickened cooking juices

For the pastry

• 225g Gluten free flour (I mix my own)
• 110g Butter
• 20g Parmesan cheese - finely grated
• 1 free range egg - beaten (reserve a little for glazing the pie)
• A little cold water
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1/4 tsp xanthum gum

What you do

• Preheat the oven to 180c
• Mix your pie filling and place in your pie dish
• Sieve the flour, xanthum gum, salt into a bowl, add the Parmesan cheese
• Rub the fat into the flour mixture until its resembles fine breadcrumbs
• Add the egg and enough water to to form a soft dough
• Once you have formed your dough, Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes
• Once rested roll out on a well floured surface and top your selected pie dish, crimp and trim and then glaze with a little beaten egg. 
• Make a couple of cuts in the pastry top to allow steam to escape. With some of your spare pastry why not form some creative pastry shapes.
• Bake for 35-45 minutes or so until golden and cooked through
• Serve immediately

The pastry is deliciously savoury,short yet flaky and undetectable as gluten free. The pastry does require slightly more gentle rolling out for its well worth the effort.

With an eye to Valentine's day I decorated my pie with hearts, as its made with love.