Steak and ale pie with mash and peas
Chunks of beef slow-cooked in brown ale with onions, carrots and mushrooms until they fall apart, under a shop-bought puff pastry lid. Served with buttery mash and peas.
Ingredients
- 1000 g Stewing beef, cut into big chunks
- 30 ml Vegetable oil
- 2 Onions, chopped
- 250 g Carrots, thickly sliced
- 250 g Mushrooms, halved
- 30 g Plain flour
- 20 g Tomato purée
- 500 ml Brown ale
- 1 Beef stock cubes, made up with 300ml hot water
- 10 ml Worcestershire sauce
- 2 g Dried thyme
- 1 g Bay leaves
- 3 g Salt
- 1 g Black pepper
- 320 g Puff pastry, ready-rolled
- 1 Eggs, beaten, to glaze
- 1500 g Potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 50 g Butter
- 100 ml Milk
- 450 g Frozen peas
Method
- Heat the oven to 160°C (140°C fan). Season the beef and brown it in batches in half the oil in a large casserole, setting each batch aside on a plate.
- Add the rest of the oil, the onions and carrots to the pan and cook for 8 minutes until softening, then add the mushrooms for 3 more.
- Stir in the flour and tomato purée for a minute, then pour in the ale, stock and Worcestershire sauce, scraping up the bits on the bottom. Return the beef with the thyme and bay and bring to a simmer.
- Cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours, until the beef breaks apart with a spoon. Fish out the bay leaf and check the seasoning.
- Turn the oven up to 200°C (180°C fan). Spoon the filling into a pie dish, lay the pastry over the top, trim and press the edges, cut a small steam hole and brush with egg.
- Bake for 30 minutes until the pastry is puffed and deep golden.
- While the pie bakes, boil the potatoes for 18 minutes, drain and mash with the butter and milk. Simmer the peas for 3 minutes just before serving.
- Cut the pie into wedges and serve with a big spoonful of mash and the peas.