I still had half a packet of minced beef left after cooking this dish earlier so I decided to make some pies…and I guess the easiest would be to come out with some cottage pies for which I would only need to make some mashed potatoes and use for the cover…
I just boiled some potatoes and removed the skin before adding some cheese…
…and mashing them…
…till the texture was fine enough for my liking. Normally, I would add some milk to make it creamier but for some reason or other, I decided not to that day and I did not add a bit of butter as well…for the simple reason that there wasn’t any in the house and I did not want to use our olive oil margarine instead as it would not have that same fragrance.
For the filling, I fried one Bombay onion, finely chopped, in a bit of oil before adding the beef, straw mushrooms (canned), sliced and daun sup (Chinese celery), chopped. I added some pepper…and thinking that I wanted a stronger beef flavour and a darker colour, I added a spoonful of Bovril. Now, THAT was a grave mistake! Anyway, once it was cooked, I dished everything out and put the filling in the aluminium foil pie cups for baking…
I thought it tasted all right at the time.
Then I covered all of them with the mashed potatoes and used a fork to pierce holes to enable the air to escape when baking. Once ready…
…I placed all of them on a tray and put them in the oven to bake…
…till they had turned a nice golden colour.
The mashed potato cover was all right – very nicely done but the filling…
…did not taste quite right. I thought I could smell the Bovril while the pies were baking in the oven…and it turned out that it was so overpowering that it drowned out everything else – there was no trace of the taste of beef, no hint of the celery nor the onion – just Bovril. In fact, it came across to me like one of those Chinese pastries with their meat filling cooked in dark soy sauce, lots of it.
Perhaps if I had cooked the beef for the filling the same way I had cooked half of it earlier, it would be a whole lot nicer. Oh yes, it was edible all right…and it did not taste too bad but I was disappointed that it did not turn out as nice as I was hoping it would.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
It seems like you love bovril a lot huh, i am not a fan of that….
I like Bovril with porridge and noodles, not on bread…and Marmite with porridge…but no, thank you, where Vegemite is concerned. Never used any for cooking, first time adding Bovril though I know Marmite crab and whatever are rather popular. I would go and buy my own Bovril, always have some in the house for porridge days…but right now, I have lots in the pantry – my cousin sent to me from Australia.
Hmm Bovril in a pie? Er, can I skip this next time I come over for a tea? Hehe.
Ahhhhh!!!! So you did not like the Bovril mee I cooked for you when you dropped by my house, eh? Not a Bovril lover, I see…. 😉
Your Bovril mee is special. My first time trying. I thank you for all the trouble cooking for us. I dont mind try new food. Like or not like is anothee issue.
Personally, I did not think what I cooked that day was very nice – I used mee kua, a bit too firm and did not absorb the ingredients so well. Much nicer with mee sua…or kampua, fresh or dried…or even those packet egg noodles, Cintan or what ever brand.
I guess we make mistakes like that from time to time. I have also added ingredients that I thought would enhance a dish only to be disappointed. Whatever it if your pies look good with golden brown crust.
Yes, they looked good. Ah well…now I know better – just keep my Bovril to my porridge and noodles. Older and wiser… Hehehehehe!!!!
I have not tried Bovril, as all the while what i had is Marmite…
Nobody in the house likes Marmite so we never buy – otherwise, I will be the only one eating.
Arthur, we all learn by mistakes. The pies looks nice to me though. Now you know where the mistakes comes from, maybe next round can lessen the Bovril. Prefer Bovril to marmite. Just keep the smallest bottle in my fridge.
I don’t mind both but missus and daughter are not fans of Marmite, so we never buy. Ya…next time, I will get it right. 😉
eeee.. why you blog as if it is that easy to make ?? what is the temperature that you adjust for baking?
It is easy, very very easy. If not easy, you would not see me cooking it – I am basically a very very lazy person. 😛 I just turned up the oven, FULL…250 degrees Celcius. That’s what I do all the time.
Still looks very good to, with or withour Bovril.. But personally I don’t really add Bovri into my cooking.. I only add it on rice, noodles, oats or if I’m making Bovril soup.. But really, your pies still look so good to me, I can eat 5!
5!!! I can only manage one…or two. Yup, first time using Bovril in cooking, never again! 😦
Still look good to me. hehe
Tasted ok too…just not what I was hoping to get – the filling like that in those frozen imported beef pies.
So the next time minus the Bovril… I also don’t quite like the smell, that goes the same with marmite.. but my kids grow up with both of those… where there was no soup for the day, they will end up drinking the soup made with either one of that.. thank goodness, they didn’t follow my taste buds, otherwise more work.. 🙂
I love your pastry though.. very nicely baked…. must be really soft and cheesy good!
My mashed potatoes? None like it anywhere…the ones I get to eat outside, can’t compare…especially when they use those that come in boxes. Eyewwwwww!!!! Or when they use a blender – it will be too fine for my liking…and of course, they do not add cheese.
I love Bovril…and Marmite – just that they’re too expensive these days…so lucky you, since you do not like both.
Bovril pie, sounds good, Arthur! I think it looks delicious. I quite like Vegemite in plain rice!
Not crazy about Vegemite. I’ve a bottle in the fridge from a friend in NZ. At best I would eat it with crackers, ok…not with bread or porridge.
Still look tasty and good to me, if you didn’t say that you’re disappointed with it, no one knows lo, hehe!!!
That’s why they say – the test of the pudding is in the eating. Cannot judge based on appearance.
the mashed potato cover was good and got the even browning unlike my bread.
Ya, no problem with the pie cover, just the filling. 😦
I love the looks of the mash. This is giving me ideas to cook tonight but with my currrent state of tastebuds…I am wary that I should not cook or else it might well come out like like a pie but is not a pie. lol.
Like mine? Looked like a pie…did not really taste like the usual ones. Was not bad but not what I was hoping for… 😦