Organmeatalicious

No kidding...we like steak and kidney pie. It's a big Anglo-Scottish thing, but we think that organ meat has been given a bad rap.

So we honor National Kidney Month--which is one of the great March celebrations--in our own way. We know it's basically something to do with renal health, but in March, we make steak and kidney pie to an old time-honored recipe.

And to honor Ghost Writer's Week, we had someone else write the recipe:

Easterween's March Steak and Kidney Pie

Prep time: about an hour
Cooking time: about two hours

Ingredients

1lb 5oz stewing steak
10oz kidney, cow or lamb (we prefer lamb)
4oz plain flour
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
half tbsp tomato paste
5fl oz beef stock
8oz puff pastry
1 egg, beaten for glazing
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Most people aren't used to preparing kidney. A little kidney taste goes a long way, so most folks like it pretreated to take the edge of the flavor. First trim out the tubes and slice it into small pieces (quarter of an inch or smaller). Then rinse it until the odor is tamed a bit. Some folk let it soak in warm water for a while.

Steak: Dice it into cubes about half an inch across.

Egg: beat it up

Onion: Chop up fine

Parsley: Chop up fine

Pastry: If you buy it in cans, take it out and roll it out to about an eighth of an inch. If you don't...you're on your own!

Method

1. Heat the oven to 425F (also known as 220C or Gas Mark 7).

2. Drop the steak and kidney into a bowl and sprinkle in the flour and salt and pepper.

3. Add the meat mix, onion and parsley into the pie dish.

4. Mix the tomato paste and stock in the dish and add enough water fill the dish halfway to the top.

5. Pack rolled-out pastry along the bottom of your pie pan.

6. Pour the meat and gravy mix into the pie pan

7. Moisten the top of the pan and put more pastry over the top to make a lid. Cut away any excess and crimp the edges.

8. Cut a half-inch hole in the middle to allow the steam to escape.

9. Brush the pie crust with the beaten egg and then bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the pastry is golden and risen.

10. Lower the the heat to 350F (that's 180C or Gas Mark 4) and cook the pie for another hour and a half until the meat is tender. If the pastry starts to get too dark, don't reduce the heat or stop cooking—just cover it with foil.

Results:

Organmeatalicious!