Pepper beef pie

Pastry

3 sheets short crust pastry
2 sheets puff pastry
1 lightly beaten egg

Filling

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, diced
1 kg chuck steak, cut into 1cm cubes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups beef stock
1 portobello mushrooms, chopped - about 2 cups
1 30g can green peppercorns, including brine
1 cup Guinness
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons cornflour
¼ cup water
salt and pepper to taste
Yields - six pies

Method

As with just about all cooking, the key thing is to start well by having everything (including the Guinness - and especially the meat) at room temperature.

In a heavy-based saucepan, fry meat in the oil a handful at a time to brown. You want a little caramelisation to happen. Set cooked meat aside.

Reduce heat and sauté onion and garlic, and then mushrooms, until soft.

Raise heat and add Guinness, bringing it to a strong boil to cook off the alcohol.

Add stock, peppercorns, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, then return meat to pan and simmer uncovered for an hour and a half.

Mix the cornflour in the water, and stir through the pie filling until it thickens. Remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 180º C.

Smere the pie trays with butter, and sprinkle with flour. Line with the shortcrust pastry. Place in the oven for 5–10 minutes. You want them to firm up a little, and just begin to go gold.

Remove, and loosen from the tray using a spoon, or the back of a bread knife. Spoon in mixture. Cut the 2 sheets of puff pastry into four squares each, then place over the top of the pies. Beat the egg, and glaze the puff pastry. Slice up the remaining puff pastry and do something that tries to be creative but isn’t. Glaze that too - you might as well.

Pop them into the oven for 30 minutes, repositioning every 10 minutes so that your pies are evenly golden brown.