Beef & Guinness Pie with Buttery Pastry

• 1 kgbraising beef, cut into 3cm chunks
• 400 mlbeef stock
• 3garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbspplain flour
• 2carrots, cut into 2cm pieces
• 2 tbsptomato puree
• salt and black pepper
• 2onions, finely diced
• 2sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 tbspvegetable oil
• 330 mlGuinness stout
• 1 tbspWorcestershire sauce
• 2bay leaves
• 1egg, beaten, for egg wash
• 500 gready-rolled all-butter shortcrust pastry
• 15 gchives, finely snipped
• 450 gbuttered peas and greens (optional)

Method

1. 1Preheat the oven to 160°C fan. Pat the beef dry with kitchen paper. Toss the chunks in the flour and season generously with salt and pepper, making sure every piece is coated. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof casserole over high heat until it shimmers.
2. 2Brown the beef in three batches, 3–4 minutes per batch, turning until each piece has a deep mahogany crust. Don't crowd the pan; all at once and the pan floods, water comes out, and you've boiled the meat instead of browning it. Lift each batch out onto a plate.
3. 3Drop the heat to medium. Add the onions and carrots to the same pan and fry for 7 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onions are translucent and starting to catch at the edges. Stir in the garlic and tomato puree and cook for 60–90 seconds.
4. 4Pour in the Guinness and let it bubble hard for a minute, scraping every sticky brown bit off the base of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the beef stock, thyme, bay leaves and Worcestershire sauce. Return the beef and any resting juices and bring to a gentle simmer.
5. 5Lid on, slide into the oven. Braise for 2½–3 hours, until the beef yields completely to the back of a spoon and the sauce coats it in a dark, syrupy gloss. Fish out the thyme stems and bay leaves. Taste and season. The Guinness brings bitterness, so it usually wants another decent pinch of salt. Spread the filling in a shallow dish and allow about 1 hour to cool before covering it with pastry. Refrigerate promptly if making ahead, and within 2 hours of cooking; allow longer for a fridge-cold filling to heat through when baking.
6. 6Turn the oven up to 200°C fan. Tip the cold filling into a large pie dish. Lay the pastry over the top, press it firmly to the rim, and crimp the edges with a fork. Brush generously with beaten egg and cut a small slit in the centre so steam can escape rather than blow the lid off.
7. 7Bake for 30–35 minutes until the pastry is deeply golden, puffed and burnished; the egg wash should look almost lacquered.
8. 8Rest the pie for 5 minutes, then scatter with the chives and black pepper. Divide into six portions and add the optional buttered peas and greens if using.

Per serving

kcal

784

protein

50.2g

fibre

5.3g

carbs

48.9g

fat

42.1g