Steak and Guinness Pie - Jamie Oliver

LifeIsGood's Note:

A traditional steak and Guinness pie done by my favorite British chef, Jamie Oliver. This is made particularly easy by using puff pastry for the top pie layer! If you want to skip the puff pastry layer, you could serve this as a normal stew. The herbs listed are just a suggestion. Jamie typically leaves the amount and type up to the cooks' personal tastes. He suggests a "handful". Pure comfort food. :)

• Total Time: 3 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 1/2 lbs stewing beef, diced
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons flour (heaping)
• 2 -3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 sticks celery, roughly chopped
• 2 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
• rosemary, thyme, bay (fresh herbs, pick leaves and add about a handful)
• 2 1/2 cups Guinness stout or 2 1/2 cups other dark stout beer
• 28 ounces tomatoes
• puff pastry, defrosted (1 lb. 2 oz. package)
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1. Season your beef generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the flour and toss around until all pieces are well coated.
2. Heat olive oil, over med.-high heat, in a large casserole type pan and brown the meat. Make sure to not crowd your meat. You may do this in two batches, if necessary.
3. Add the onion and cook for 1 more minute. Then add the carrot, celery, parsnips and fresh herbs. Cook for another 4 minutes. Add the Guinness and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Stir and turn down the heat to simmer. Simmer this mixture for about 2 hours or until the meat is very tender. The sauce should be thick and intensely flavored. Season if needed.
4. To make pies:.
5. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
6. Put your meat filling into a large, round baking dish. You could also make individual pies. Any high-sided round ovenproof bowl is fine.
7. Roll out the pastry, dusting with flour as you go, until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out a large circle (or individual circles for smaller servings) - about 1/2 inch bigger than the top of your bowl. Brush the rim(s) of the bowl with the beaten egg, then place the pastry circle(s) on top, pushing the excess pastry down the outside of the bowl to secure. Lightly score the top of the pastry in a criss-cross manner and brush with more of the beaten egg.
8. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 45 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

Reviews

[MarraMamba]

This was so so good. I loved the flavors, it was even worth using the oven in the heat. I made an individual portion and have one to freeze as well. Since i was making small portion I decided to use sirloin instead of stewing beef, just ensured tenderness.

[Cooks4_6]

Great flavor, however the Guiness was a bit too strong for my family's liking. Next time I will cut the stout in half and replace it with the equivalent amount of beef broth.

[7Seven]

Lovely hearty stew. I did find the Guinness taste was a little overpowering so I added half cup of beef broth after the first hour of simmering. More changes that I made were adding 4 smashed cloves of garlic and I used dried herbs as I have none fresh. I will certainly be making this again, thank you! :-)