Steak and Ale Pie

Ingredients

675 gms beef strips
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
115 gms button mushrooms, halved
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup beef stock
3/4 cup dark ale
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1 large egg, beaten - to glaze

Method

1. Season beef before tossing in flour and shaking excess.

2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in frying pan over medium high heat, cooking beef in batches until browned. Transfer into large saucepan.

3. Add remaining oil to fry pan. Cook onion until softened before adding mushrooms and garlic for about 5 minutes. Transfer to saucepan.

4. Add stock, ale, Worcestershire, tomato paste and bay leaf to saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1.5 hours until meat is tender.

5. Transfer mixture to greased pie dish. Reserve 2/3 cup of sauce and pour the rest over meat mixture. Allow to cool.

6. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Roll out puff pastry onto a floured surface to a thickness of 3mm. Place pastry over pie dish and cut off excess with knife. Use the trimmings to decorate the pie top before brushing pastry with beaten egg and baking for 25 minutes.

7. Reheat reserved gravy and serve immediately with pie, along with a side of carrots and mashed potato.