Traditional English Steak & Ale Pie Recipe

It is quite a while since I posted a recipe, so I thought I would dust off the cooking utensils and pull something together. One of my favourite comfort foods is Steak and Ale Pie. There is nothing more satisfying than tucking in to a good pie, mashed potato and peas. Now it would be rotten of me to tell you this, without letting you into the secret of my favourite traditional Steak and Ale Pie recipe :o)

After you have tried this great recipe for a traditional English Steak and Ale Pie, please be welcome to either email me or leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your feedback. Thank You ~ Graham :o)

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* * * INGREDIENTS * * *

(Serves 4)

750g Braising Steak (or neck/shin of beef)

2 - 3 onions (sliced)

1 clove garlic (chopped)

1 bay leaf

Plain flour

Puff Pastry or Shortcrust Pastry

2 - 4 rashers of smoked bacon

6 - 7 mushrooms

A Knob of Butter

500ml Dark Ale/Beer

250ml Beef Stock
1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce (optional)
Salt and Pepper to season

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Please click HERE to for a UK/US weights and measures conversion table

RECIPE

The first step is to dice the steak (in this example I have used shin of beef, but you could use braising steak or neck of beef - any cut that requires slow cooking is ideal) into reasonable sized pieces.

Whilst doing this, heat up the pan until it is very hot. It is important to get the pan hot, so that you can brown off the steak. Put seasoned plain flour into a dish and place each piece of steak into the flour, thoroughly coating all sides.

Then add the pieces to the pan. It is really important to get lots of colour into the steak at this point as this is will help give the stew a lovely dark colour. Add salt and pepper as the steak browns.

Once browned on both sides, remove the steak from the pan, and put aside.



Next dice some smoked bacon and add to the pan with a touch more butter. Any caramelised bits on the bottom of the pan from browning the beef will add to the flavour as we cook the bacon.

Now add the sliced onions and chopped garlic clove.



We are looking to caramelised the onions down, so keep the pan on a high heat.
(To help caramelise the onions you can add a small sprinkle of caster sugar).  Keep stiring the onions whilst cooking them so that they do not burn on the bottom (as the burnt pieces will give the mixture a bitter aftertaste).

Once the onions are caramelised you will see them turn really soft and brown.

Now you can add the remaining ingredients. Firstly add 6 or 7 large chopped button mushrooms and mix them in well to ensure they get coated in the onion and bacon mixture.



Next slowly pour in the Ale, allowing it to reduce down a bit before pouring in the beef stock.



 Add in the browned steak pieces that were cooked earlier, making sure that they are covered by the stock. Finally add a bay leaf and cover the pan.


Allow it to gently simmer for around 2 hours.

When you remove the lid you will see that the sauce has reduced and thickened and the mushrooms are wonderfully soft.



Allow the beef and ale to cool
(to get the best flavour possible, it would be ideal to leave it overnight)

Once cold place the beef into your pie dish,
layering with spoonfulls of the sauce, mushrooms and onion.



It is important to pile up the steak and vegetables, to ensure that the pastry lid doesn't sink when you put it on. You can either use shortcrust or puff pastry. If you are using ready made puff pastry, roll two layers together. Next, coat the rim of the pie dish with an egg wash to help the pastry stick, before finally placing the lid on the dish.



Once you have placed the lid on the dish, crimp the edges with your thumbs and fingers to form a seal and stop the pastry shrinking during cooking. If you have any leftover pastry, you can add some decorative leaf features onto the top of the pie.

Trim the excess pastry from the edge of the dish and coat the top of the pie in egg wash (Egg wash using 1 whole egg and one egg yoke, to give the pie a deep golden brown colour).





Finally cut a cross mark in the centre of the lid of the pie with a knife to allow steam to escape through during the cooking process.  This should help avoid a soggy pastry.

Bake the pie in the oven for about 30-40 minutes at 200C/180C fan/ Gas Mark 6.








ENJOY!!!



Graham xx

 

 

 

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