When it's cold and rainy outside, nothing makes me happier than cooking. I love making a hearty dish in the colder months. This humble brisket pie is a family favourite. The best part, it’s so easy to make! The veg I use in this recipe is chosen due to seasonality, as well as some of the ingredients like the Gevity A.M Cleanse Bone Broth for its thermogenic properties. Thermogenic foods help to boost your metabolic rate by producing heat in the body, as well as improving your energy. I also recommend making the pastry yourself, opting for an olive oil pastry. I follow this recipe by the Minimalist Baker, the only difference is using a cold pressed, high quality extra virgin olive oil like this one Bragg Unrefined and Unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Recipe: Humble brisket pie (serves 4)

Protein
400g of lentils (equivalent to 1x can) *make sure to soak your lentils prior to cooking them if you are using loose bag
800g of beef brisket
100g of pearl barley
300g of unbleached plain or wholemeal flour

2x onions (peeled and roughly chopped)
4x cloves of garlic (chopped)
3-4cm of ginger (chopped)
Optional: 1x bird’s eye chilli

1x tablespoon of each:
Bone Broth
Worcestershire sauce
Tomato Puree
Unbleached plain or wholemeal flour
Wholegrain mustard
Dried rosemary
All-purpose seasoning
2x bay leaves

Veg
2x carrots
2x parsnips
1x medium sized sweet potato
½ bunch of Silverbeet (roughly chopped)
250g mushrooms (chopped)

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C. On medium heat, cook the beef brisket in a pan with a lug of olive oil until brown on all sides, turning occasionally. Once browned, pop aside to cool and then slice into strips.  Peel and roughly chop the onions, garlic, ginger, chilli, carrots, parsnips and sweet potato, then put them into a large pan on a low heat with a lug of olive oil. Add the tablespoon of rosemary, all-purpose seasoning and bay leaves. Cook for around 15 minutes with the lid ajar, or until softened, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 tablespoon of plain flour, tomato puree, wholegrain mustard, worcestershire sauce and bone broth. Pour 600ml of boiling water. Stir through 100g pearl barley, add in silverbeet and mushrooms, along with the beef brisket. Leave to cook for 1 hour, or until the pearl barley is cooked and the pie mix is dark and sticky, stirring occasionally and adding splashes of water to loosen if needed. Let the mixture cool down before popping it in the pie dish.

Pastry
On a flour dusted surface, roll out the pastry, then place on top of the pie dish. Pinch the edges to seal, score a cross in the middle, eggwash and bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden.