Winter means tasty home-made pies!
Making a pie is extremely satisfying and rewarding – especially when you have a Le Crueset. Scotty bought me one for Christmas and it is amazing for any recipe that requires a slow cook in the oven.
The night Scotty made his prawn and dill canapes as an entree, I made this pie for the first time. It was so good we decided to make it the following weekend for my parents and Scotty’s mum who were coming over for dinner (it went down a treat then too).
It’s a great dish because you get it all started then throw it in the oven for 1 1/2 hours and let it simmer away getting more flavoursome by the second. You can make it the night before and then on the day you want to eat it, just pop it in a pie dish (of individual pie dishes as I like to serve them) throw on ready rolled puff pastry and put it in the oven til the pastry is golden.
BEEF AND MUSHROOM PIE
Serves 4
100 ml olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
150g button mushrooms, halved
1 kg chuck steak, cut into 2 cm cubes
1/3 cup plain flour
300 ml beef stock
300 ml red wine
4 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
1 x 380 g placket frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten, to glaze
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large cast iron casserole dish (preferably a Le Creuset) on medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally for 7 minutes, or until tender. Remove and set aside.
Lightly dust the meat with the flour. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the flour. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the cart iron and cook the meat in batches over high heat, adding a little extra oil if needed, until browned. Remove and set aside.
Sprinkle the casserole dish with the reserved flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the stock and wine and bring to the boil, then add the meat, onion and mushrooms a long with the thyme and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Cover, transfer to the oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and season well with salt and pepper. Allow to cool – preferably chill overnight.
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Spoon the mixture into a large pie dish. Roll out the pastry to the size of the dish. Cover the pie, pressing down on the edges to seal. Trim away any excess pastry, brush with the beaten egg and bake for 40 – 45 minutes, of until the pastry is golden.
I loved your Beef & Mushroom pie. It was delicious – Perth is now starting to get cold FINALLY!! so I will be making more of this in the next few weeks. Bring on the cold weather!