Beef Pie Mixture
There is something comforting about a pie. It feels indulgent, is calorific but in the depths of winter or after one of those days, if you sit and eat a pie, somehow everything feels better. I love the old adage of ‘Everything in moderation’, we don’t make pies every week, but when we do, they should be eaten and always enjoyed.
In this recipe, the meat is cooked in the oven with vegetables and aromatic herbs, you are looking to just enhance not overpower the meat. You can, of course, make beef in Guinness or a Beef Bourgignon but this recipe just celebrates the simplicity of an old fashioned meat pie.
I have topped the beef pie mixture which in essence is a beef stew, with blobs of homemade dumplings and cooked the mixture on the stovetop, served it over mash potato and rice, the recipe is versatile.
To make a pie, encase the cooled pie mixture in a pastry crust or for large crowd cook-off squares or rounds of pastry and top the beef pie mixture with pastry.
Below is a sheet of ready rolled pastry, I cut the pastry in half and then make an incision with a knife around the edges. Don’t cut all the way through, bake and top the beef pie mixture.
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- 1.2kg stewing beef
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 4 shallots, finely chopped (+-200g)
- 10g fresh thyme stalks leaves removed
- 2 bay leaves
- 500ml boiling water
- 1 beef stock cube, ideally organic
- 1 level teaspoon black pepper crushed
- 2 tablespoons plain flour heaped
- To finish
- 2 scant tablespoons gravy thickener like Bisto diluted in ½ cup of cold water
- Mix the stock cube into the boiling water and keep back.
- Add all the ingredients to a lidded casserole dish, except the stock.
- Stir until everything has been well combined.
- Mix the stock cube into the boiling water and pour into the casserole dish.
- the meat should be at least ¾ of the way covered.
- Place in the oven for 2 hours or according to the instructions on the packet or from your butcher.
- When the meat is tender, add the diluted Bisto and stir.
- At this point, the mixture can be cooled and kept for the next couple of days.
- Serving suggestions:
- Steak bake cut a square of pastry 20cm, fill half the square, fold over and fork the corners to seal and bake according to the instructions on the pastry box.
- A quick pie - bake a sheet of puff or shortcrust pastry in rounds or squares and pop on top of the mixture.
- Serve as a stew with rice or mashed potato, peas and carrots
- Steak bake cut a square of pastry 20cm, fill half the square, fold over and fork the corners to seal and bake according to the instructions on the pastry box.