Beef and ale pie

Published on 11/12/2011 | In England en, English | By Monica |

- Prep Time
- 30 Minutes
- Cook Time
- 215 Minutes
- Yield
- 6
- Difficulty Level

My mom gave me a while ago an english cooking book filled with delicious pie recipes. And if English Cooking is known for something it is certainly the Pies. The book is amazing, you can check it out in My Store and the recipes work out real good.

I’ve had a craving for mashed potatoes, beans and stewed beef for a long while, so this Beef&Ale Pie was perfect!! The stew is prepared with beer and I left it at low-heat for about 3 hours until the meat was reeeally soft. The pastry was also really soft and lovely, and adding to that the company of Cristi, Ton, Esteban and “El Chino”, the evening turned out perfect.

The juice is amazing with the smashed potatoes and it’s really a delicious home dish. We loved it all!! And of course, there was nothing left!!

meat and ale pie

Meat-and-Ale-Pie-19

Ingredients

For the filling:
25 g plain flour
800 g chuck steak cut into 2.5 cm cubes
20 g butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots chopped into medium-size cubes
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato purée (I had home-made pomodro, it was great!)
500 ml ale such as Guinness or stout
300 ml pint hot beef stock
2 tsp sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper
For the Shortcrust pastry. Makes 300 g of pastry:
200 g plain flour
pinch salt
50 g butter
50 g white vegetarian fat or lard
2-3 tbsp cold water, to mix

Instructions

Shortcrust pastry. You can start preparing while the filling is cooling down.
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
Cut the fat into cubes and add this to the flour.
Use your fingertips to rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the water gradually, stirring in with a knife.
When the dough just sticks together, knead it tightly until it forms a ball.
Wrap in film and let it rest for 30 min in the fridge. It can stay there for up to two days, and/or frozen until ready to use.
Cubrir con papel film y llevar a la refrigeradora por 30 minutos. Puede estar hasta 2 días, o se puede congelar hasta utilizar.
Filling and Pie.
Place the flour with salt and pepper in a bowl and add the meat. Toss well with the flour until evenly coated.
Heat the butter and oil in a pan. When the pan is hot enough, add the meat in batches and brown quickly for about 1 minute, then remove and set aside.
In the same pan, add the onions and carrots and fry gently.
Return the meat to the pan.
Add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato purée, sugar, stock and ale.
Grind plenty of pepper and add salt. Move well and bring to a boil.
Boil for about 4 minutes and lower the heat to a gently simmer.
Cook for minimum 2 hours. I cooked it for 3 and the meat was amazing.
The sauce must be thick and glossy.
Remove from the heat, place in a pie squared dish and leave to cool. It's even better if you do it the day before, tastier! Meanwhile you can prepare the shortcrust pastry.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC
Brush the rim of the pie dish with water
Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 3 mm and to a size of about 1 cm more than the pie dish.
Place a pie funnel in the center of the filling; it will support the pastry and stop it from sinking into the filling and becoming soggy.
Place the pastry lid over the top (with a small hole in the middle for the pie funnel -> see picture) and press down on the edges to seal.
Remove any excess pastry and crimp the edges with a fork.
Brush with beaten egg.
Cook for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.
Eat with beans and mashed potatoes.