Irish Beef and Guinness Pie

Who doesn't love a home-made pot pie.  A quintessential winter comfort food.  Add a little Irish stout and you have a PIE!  The meat is marinaded in beer, then slowly simmered on the stove top for a couple of hours along with mushrooms, carrots and potatoes.  If you could only smell the aromas in my kitchen.  This recipe will make one large pie for four or four individual pies.



Ingredients

For the Pastry:
200 gr.         flour
1 pinch        salt
110 gr          butter, cubed or an equal mix of butter and lard
2 to 3 tbsp   cold water
1                  egg (beaten)

For the Filling:
25 gr.           flour
900 gr          stewing beef, cut into 1"/2.5cm cubes (or cut up a beef round roast)
25 gr.           butter
1 tbsp          grapeseed or olive oil
2 large         onions (thinly sliced)
2                  carrots (chopped to 1" cubes)
2                  potatoes (chopped to 1" cubes)
10                mushrooms, sliced (approx.)
2 tap            Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp            tomato puree
500 ml        Guinness (or stout)
300 ml        beef stock (hot)
2 tsp           sugar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Directions:
Place the flour in a large bowl and season with salt and ground black pepper. Add the cubes of meat and toss well in the flour until evenly coated.


Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy-based, flameproof casserole dish until the butter has melted. Add the meat to the fat in small batches and brown quickly all over for just a minute, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.


Add the onions to the pan and fry gently for about 2 minutes. Then return the meat to the pan with the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, ale stock, and sugar. Grind in plenty of black pepper and a little salt, stir well and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce to a gentle simmer and cook slowly for about 2 hours until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened and is glossy. After one hour, add the carrots and potatoes and mix into the simmering meat.  Remove from the heat, place into a 1.5 liter deep pie dish and leave to cool completely.

Cooling the filling.

Heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6.

Roll out the pastry to 1/8"/3mm. Cut a ¾"/2cm strip from the rolled-out pastry. Brush the rim of the pie dish with water and place the pastry strip around the rim, pressing it down. Cut out the remaining pastry about 1"/2.5cm larger than the dish. Sit a pie funnel in the center of the filling; it will support the pastry and stop it from sinking into the filling and becoming soggy.

Place the pastry lid over the top and press down to the edge and seal. Trim off any excess pastry and crimp the edges with a fork or between your thumb and forefinger. Brush the top with beaten egg and make a hole in the center to reveal the pie funnel. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.