We experienced the delight of this pie with friends several weekends ago. I would have taken photos but the pie was consumed quicker than you could say “Smile”. It’s from Jamie Oliver‘s recipe book ‘Cook your way to the good life‘ (2007). Apparently he dedicated the book to the one and only Steve Irwin!
Ingredients:
Olive oil
3 medium red onions chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
30g butter
2 chopped carrots
2 sticks celery chopped
4 field mushrooms chopped
1kg topside steak or blade or chuck (any good meat for a stew really) cut into 2cm cubes
few sprigs rosemary
1 400ml can Guinness
2 heaped tablespoons flour
100g grated tasty cheese
500g puff pastry
1 large egg
Method:
Preheat oven to 190ºC. Use an ovenproof fry pan or casserole dish to fry onions gently, then add carrots, garlic, butter, celery and mushrooms.
After frying for a few minutes you could remove to casserole dish and fry the steak with the rosemary separately depending on the size of the fry pan. Add a pinch of salt for taste. Fry the meat fast, add in Guinness and just enough water to cover, bring to a simmer and place in casserole dish with the rest of the mix. Leave in oven for 1.5 hours. Check, stir, then cook for another hour.
At this stage check how thick the stew is. If it’s too thin then quickly boil off some liquid to thicken it up. A pie filling needs to be robust. If it’s thick enough stir in all the cheese.
Prepare the pastry. Roll out a third to line a buttered a pie dish. Leave the edges dangling over the side. Pour in the filling. Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg. Cut the other pastry to fit the top, criss cross with a knife. Fold the overhanging pastry on to
the lid for that rustic look. Brush top with egg and bake for another 45 mins.
Serve with peas and chunky bread!
Serves 4 to 6