Veal, Liver and Bacon Mince Pie

This recipe is yet another of Nigella’s tomato and meat sauce recipes, which could be served with rice, on pasta, or in a pie. This one is topped with mashed potato…

206. Veal, Liver and Bacon Mince Pie (Feeding Babies and Small Children)

To make this pie, you need

1) a good butcher
2) a food processor
3) a strong stomach

I have all three, so I was off to a good start.

I got the liver from Rendinas, and it was awesome! I’d never seen a calves’ liver before, and they’re huge! Like seriously, one hundred times larger than a chicken liver. And it was so red and shiny… amazing. The butcher cut off a couple of slices for me, and suggested frying them in a pan with herbs, wine and pepper. Next time, next time.


Liver in bag

You start off by processing up some onion, garlic, carrot, celery and bacon, and cooking it in butter until softened. Then you process the liver and veal in the processor…


Minced – oh my god, possibly the grossest thing I have ever seen.

… and then add it to the pan, before adding flour, cinnamon, bay leaves, tomatoes, and peas. Then you let it simmer until cooked, and stir in some cream at the end.


Filling in pot

I let it cool down a bit, and then put it in a pie dish. There was a bit too much filling for the dish, so I put the remainder into a zip-lock glad bag, and thence into the freezer.
I topped it with the leftover mashed potato from my roast pork lunch, and then shoved the whole lot, covered with foil, into the freezer.


Assembled Pie

Two days later, I took it out, and topped it with butter, parmesan cheese and nutmeg, before baking it in a 190C oven for about 1 hour until it was warmed all the way through.


Baked pie

Awesome pie! As I was cooking it, I was wondering why Nigella needed yet another tomato and meat sauce recipe. But as I was eating it, I understood. It's really delicious, and tastes different from the other ones. I also suppose it would be a good way to get kids to eat liver without their knowing. (But why, why would it be desirable to feed kids liver? I always thought it was really high in cholesterol...)


Pie being eaten

I'm taking the leftovers to work tonight. Sweet!

However, delicious and kiddie-friendly though the finished product may be, I applaud any parent who manages to make their child eat this pie having seen the minced meats that go into it.