Steak and Ale Pie

Our first savory pie of the month.

A word about puff pastry. A big part of the fun in food preparation for me is doing as much as possible from scratch. Bread, mayonnaise, yogurt.. these are things from the kitchen, not the store. My pantry and freezer are full of summer produce I have canned or frozen for winter use. Even Pievember was born from my desire to learn how to make a decent crust. I can't always pull off the "from scratch" lifestyle, but I do my best (mostly for my own amusement).

Now puff pastry. Done right, it takes several days. After each step, the dough spends a night in the fridge. I've done this, but three days of waiting around (and planning that far ahead, for that matter) is kind of a drag.

Long story short, turns out it is easy to cheat by simply reducing each of those overnight rests to about 20 minutes. Traditionally accurate? No. The act of a purist? Certainly not. But you know what? This traditional British pie was ready to eat in two hours and turned out great. And I didn't buy prepackaged puff pastry.

And eyes everywhere roll in unison.

 

 

RECIPE

 

Crust (Quick Puff Pastry)

2c flour

2 sticks frozen butter

3/4 c ice water

pinch salt

 

Filling

1 1/2 lb beef, cubed

1 yellow onion, diced

2 large carrots, chopped

2 turnips, chopped

2 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 c sliced mushrooms

1 bottle beer

1 c broth (beef or chicken)

1/2 c cold water

1/4 c corn starch

Salt and Pepper

 

To prepare puff pastry, cut butter into half inch cubes. mix well butter, salt and flour in a mixing bowl. Add water and blend into a loose dough. Shape into a cube and roll on a well-floured surface into a 16x16 square. fold in thirds, turn and fold into thirds once again. wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate 20 minutes. Repeat this process twice more before rolling out again to top pie.

 

For filling, put a little oil in a large saucepan and cook onions at medium heat until soft. Add beef to pan and cook until brown on all sides. Drain fat and mix beef/onion and prepared vegetables in a 2qt ceramic or glass casserole dish.

Pour a little beer into pot to deglaze. Add beer (I used a Brooklyn Oktoberfest) and broth to pot and bring to simmer.

mix 1/2 c water and 1/4 c corn starch together to create a slurry and add to pot.

Continue cooking, whisking constantly until thick. Pour over beef and vegetable mix.

Seal the pie with puff pastry and cut a few slits to ventilate. Brush with egg wash.

Cook in 375 degree oven 45 minutes or until brown. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

 

Done