Steak and Guinness Pie

This pie is pretty substantial and is a British classic. The recipe was taken from Jamie Oliver's cookbook, Happy Days with the Naked Chef. I made only a few modifications to this  easy classic. For the Jamie Oliver recipe click *here*  and search Steak and Guinness Pie or Steak, Guinness & Cheese Pie with a puff pastry lid. Although the latter recipe comes up on his website it may be more of an updated one so I will include the recipe from Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Which is a great cookbook by the way.  

Jamie Oliver's Good Old Steak and Guinness Pie

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680g/1and 1/2 lb stewing beef, diced

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 heaped tablespoons flour

olive oil

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

4 sticks of celery, washed and roughly chopped

2 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped 

1 handful of mixed herbs (rosemary, thyme and bay), leaves picked

565ml/1 pint of Guinness 

2x 400g/14oz tins of tomatoes

1x500g/1lb 2oz pack of puff pastry 

1 beaten egg

Season your beef generously with salt and pepper, sprinkle with flour and toss around until coated. Heat 2 to 3 lugs of olive oil in a large casserole-type pan and fry your meat, in two batches if need be, until golden brown. Add the onion and fry for 1 more minute, then add the carrot, celery, parsnips and herbs. Fry for a further 4 minutes then pour in your Guinness. Add the tinned tomatoes and bring to the boil. Stir around, then simmer for around 2 hours or until the meat is really tender. The sauce should be nice and thick with an intensely tasty flavour. Season. At this point you could serve it as a stew with mash, or it will keep really well for a good 5 days in the fridge (while improving in flavour at the same time).

To make the pies, preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. Put your meat filling into an appropriately-sized baking dish or dishes. I like to make small individuals pies - any high-sided round oven proof bowls are fine. Roll out your pastry, dusting with flour as you go, until 0.5cm/1/4 inch thick. Cut out 6 circles about 1cm/1/2 inch bigger than the tops of your bowls. Brush the rims of your bowls with beaten egg, then place the pastry circles on top, squashing the excess pastry down the outside of the bowls to secure. Lightly score the top of the pastry in a criss-cross fashion and brush with more of the beaten egg. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 45 minutes until golden and bubbling. 

Notes: I had ran out of olive oil so good thing I bought that Camelina oil, I used that instead. Dried herbs work in a pinch. I used tins of diced tomatoes. I omitted the celery and added chopped baby potatoes instead. Added a dash here and there of cumin. Buying meat from the butcher's, Acme Meat here in E-town, made a difference in just over 1 hour the beef I used was tender. 

Have a good weekend everyone! - JD