A weeknight pie that doesn't come frozen or with a lot of fiddly pastry techniques? That is absolutely something we can get onboard with. This scrunchy-top beef and veg pie is cockle-warming and delicious, but also very easy to make. Plus it slips into the one-pot-wonder category, just to remove all barriers between you and your pie dreams.
Preheat oven to 210°C fan-forced. Cut green top from leek and discard. Halve and wash leek thoroughly, place cut-side down on a chopping board and thinly slice. Pull cavolo nero leaves from their stems, discarding stems, and roughly chop. Roughly chop baby spinach leaves. Peel and crush garlic.
Heat oil in a frypan over medium-high heat and add leek. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2–3 minutes or until leek is softened. Add mince and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, for 5–6 minutes or until caramelised. While mince is cooking, continue with step 3.
Melt butter and brush 1 filo sheet with butter. Top with a second sheet and scrunch into a nest. Repeat with remaining filo and butter to create 4 nests.
Sprinkle beef with flour. Add Italian kitchen herbs, mustard, garlic and tomato paste to pan and cook, stirring continuously, for 1 minute or until tomato paste has darkened in colour. Dissolve stock cube in 250ml (1 cup) water and add to pan with cavolo nero and spinach. Stir until wilted and simmer for 1–2 minutes or until liquid has reduced and thickened. Remove from heat.
Sprinkle mince with cheese and top with filo nests. Bake for 12–13 minutes or until pastry is golden.
Remove pie from oven and set aside to cool slightly for 2–3 minutes. Toss salad leaves with your favourite dressing and serve with pie.