Steak & Ale Pie
For traditional British comfort food, you can't go past steak and ale pie. It is one of the most popular and traditional pies all over the UK and is best served with a pint of beer and chips on the side. The pastry is a rough puff pastry which can be prepared very quickly. Steak and ale pie contains a large amount of Guinness, which gives this pie its beautiful dark brown colour and makes it so full of flavour. You can create more texture by adding some garden peas to the stew. It also tastes great the next day and keeps well in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Recipe Tester Feedback: "Such an easy pie to make, so tasty. 'Bloody lovely, just like being in a pub back home' as hubby said, especially as we served it with chips! First time making pastry and it was easier than I thought!" - Suzanne
No: Nuts
Contains: Gluten / Dairy / Egg
Preparation Time 30 minutes
Cooking Time 2.5 hours
Serves 4
Cannot be frozen
Ingredients
- Steak stew:
- onions - 2, red, peeled and quartered
- olive oil - 30g
- garlic cloves - 2, peeled
- celery - 2 sticks, chopped into large chunks
- mushrooms - 200g, button, halved
- stewing beef - 450g, diced
- fresh rosemary - 2 sprigs, leaves only
- salt - pinch
- pepper - pinch
- dark ale - 330g, e.g. Guinness
- plain flour - 1 tsp
- egg - 1
- Rough puff pastry:
- butter - 200g, ice cold, chopped into small chunks
- plain flour - 200g + extra for dusting
- water - 90g, ice cold
- salt - 1/2 tsp
Method
Steak stew:
- Place the red onions (2) in the bowl. Chop Speed 5 / 3 seconds. Scrape down sides.
- Add the olive oil (30g) to the bowl. Program 10 minutes / 120C* / Speed 1.
- Add the garlic cloves (2), celery (2) and mushrooms (200g) to the bowl. Blitz Speed 5 / 3 seconds. Scrape down sides.
- Program 10 minutes / 120C* / Speed 1.
- Preheat the oven to 190C.
- Pour in the stewing beef (450g), rosemary leaves (from 2 sprigs), and a pinch each of salt and pepper to the bowl. Program 5 minutes / 120C* / Reverse+Speed 2.
- Add the dark ale (330g) and plain flour (1 tsp). Combine Reverse+Speed 2.5 / 40 seconds. Pour into an ovenproof casserole dish and put the lid on.
- Cook in the oven for 2 hours.
Rough puff pastry:
- Meanwhile, place the ice cold butter (200g), plain flour (200g), ice cold water (90g) and salt (1/2 tsp) into the bowl. Mix Speed 6 / 20 seconds.
- Place onto a generously floured surface and form into a ball. It will be very sticky so just be sure to handle it quickly. Shape into a square and wrap in clingfilm. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Remove, unwrap and place onto a floured surface. Roll out to a rectangle about 20x50cm.
- Fold the dough like you would a letter. First fold the bottom third up, and then the top third down so that you are left with a rectangle approximately a third of the size. For a normal puff pastry it would now go in the fridge and be chilled but because we are doing a rough puff pastry we are skipping the chilling part and immediately roll it out again.
- In order to roll it again, the seam side should face you and the folded edge should be on the left. Roll out to a rectangle about 20x50cm.
- Once again, fold the dough like you would a letter. First fold the bottom third up, and then the top third down so that you are left with a rectangle approximately a third of the size. Refrigerate until later.
- Take the steak stew out of the oven. Pour into a pie dish.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge, unwrap and place on a floured surface. Roll out into a large square that fits the top of the pie dish. Roll up on the rolling pin and place on top of the pie.
- Fold in the edges to build a crust. Crack the egg (1) into a small bowl and whisk slightly. Brush over the pie. Score 4 holes with a knife and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Serve immediately.
* If your machine does not go above 100C, set to Steaming Temperature which is usually between 110-115C. Please refer to your user manual for correct information for the appropriate setting for your machine.
