* Beef and Guinness Pie

I cooked a version of this Beef and Guinness Pie for the first time a couple of years ago after watching "Jamie at home". I bought the book and it was one of the first recipes that we tried. At that time, Neil was interested in doing a bit of cooking too so we made the pie together... which was fun.

Sort of.

Thankfully, his interest didn't really last beyond cooking and eating this pie... either that or I subliminally chased him from the kitchen. And by subliminally I mean standing at the kitchen door and saying "Get. Out." every time he came near it when dinner wasn't actually on the table. I may have been wielding a rolling pin at the time, too.

Neil is a man of simple tastes and absolutely loves this pie. He'd far rather eat meat and potatoes than any of the variety of foods that I put in front of him (and then blog) - but he doesn't cook so he doesn't get much in the way of a choice. I usually cook enough meat to fill two medium pies and Neil has a happy head on for a couple of days because most of the time we eat them on alternate days, so that I don't have to freeze one. They freeze really well - I just can't be bothered, and if he sees both pies I have a hard time convincing Neil that "NO... we are NOT eating one each!"

Sometimes I have to convince myself too :D

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Beef and Guinness Pie Recipe

Serves 4 - 6

Prep time - 1 hr 20 minutes (including allowing the filling to cool) minutes
Cooking time - 3hrs 15 minutes
Total time - 4 hrs 35 minutes

NOTE: The time may seem excessive, but you can make your pie filling whenever you feel like it. The pie itself only takes 45 minutes to cook.

You will need
A large pie dish - greased
(or two medium pie dishes... or 4 small pie dishes... or... or... )

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion - chopped
2 cloves garlic - crushed
2 medium carrots - peeled and chopped
2 sticks celery - chopped
4oz/100g chestnut mushrooms - thickly sliced
1lb or 500g good quality stewing steak (I use skirt, but shin works too)
1 tbsp fresh rosemary - chopped OR 1 tsp dried rosemary
salt
pepper
1 heaped tbsp plain flour
9fl oz/250ml Guinness (half a can)
4fl oz/100ml beef stock
4oz/100g cheddar grated
1 egg, beaten

Method
Pie Filling

• Preheat the oven to 160Cfan/190C/375F/gas 5.
• Heat the olive oil in the large ovenproof saucepan on a low heat.
• Add the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes.
• Turn the heat up, add the garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms, beef, rosemary, a pinch of salt and a half a teaspoon of pepper. Stir it all together gently.
• Cook for 3 or 4 minutes, then stir in the flour and cook for a minute before pouring in the Guinness and beef stock.
• Bring to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and place in the preheated oven for about 1 and half hours.
• Remove the pan from the oven and give it a stir then put it back into the oven and continue to cook for another hour, or until the meat is very tender.
• If at this stage your beef pie filling is a bit *wet*, pop it on the hob and simmer gently to reduce the sauciness a bit. If it's too wet your pie base will turn to mush - too dry and you'll have no sauce in your pie.
• When your happy with the consistency, stir in half of the cheese and remove from any heat.
• Allow to cool for at least an hour (to prevent a soggy pie bottom).

Pastry

• Preheat the oven to 160Cfan/190C/375F/gas 5. Cut a third off of your pastry and put to one side.
• Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the large piece of the pastry evenly with a floured rolling pin to the thickness of about 5mm.
• Line the base of your greased pie dish with the pastry.
• Roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness, large enough to form a lid.
• Spoon the pie filling into your pastry base.
• Scatter the other half of the cheddar across the top of the pie filling.
• Brush the beaten egg around the pastry edges then place the pastry you just rolled out, on the top.
• Pinch the edges together to form a crust and trim to fit the pie dish.
• Brush the top with beaten egg and make a small slit with a knife in the centre of your pastry lid, to allow steam to escape.
• Bake the pie directly on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes, until the pastry is cooked, puffed and golden.

EAT

NOTE: This recipe uses half a can of Guinness because I personally find it a bit overpowering if I use the whole can with this quantity of meat. It may seem wasteful, but someone always drinks the other half  before I can bung it in anything else!