Ingredients:
600g (1.3 lbs) diced or cubed stewing beef
½ large onion – roughly chopped
1 large Rooster potato – peeled & cubed
1 very large carrot or 2 medium carrots – cut into rounds
(half-rounds at bigger end)
12–14 normal mushrooms – washed & sliced into chunky
pieces
1 Knorr Rich Beef concentrated gel stockpot
575ml water (1.2 pints)
45g real butter
26g flour
3g salt
1 Tbsp. dried Thyme
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. Paprika
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
½ tsp. Onion Salt
Jus.Rol Shortcrust (frozen pack of 2 – thawed, but cold)
A deep casserole dish (I use a nearly 14 inch oval dish
that’s almost 3 inches deep)
A large slow cooker (crockpot)
This dish is great comfort food – something you’d be
happy to get for Sunday dinner in the local pub. If you want to give it an even more authentic
‘pub grub’ taste, you could also add a few tablespoons of stout or ale to the
initial mixture. I used to make beef pie
regularly, but stopped as I was finding it a bit plain. Last night I decided it was time I tried again, but this time I took my time with it and came up with a new recipe
to give it more flavour and richness.
It was a big hit and we’re looking forward to the leftovers. You can easily feed a family of 5 with
this. As with many of my recipes, I used
a slow-cooker. Although this dish doesn’t stay in the slow-cooker until serving time, it’s essential for
softening the meat and making it tender, while keeping the veg from going too mushy.
Method:
Once you’ve chopped all of your vegetables appropriately,
you will need to briefly brown the outside of your pieces of diced beef in a
non-stick pan in order to seal the meat on all sides, which holds in the juices
while slow-cooking. Put all the veg, the
Worcestershire sauce, the Thyme, Paprika, pepper and onion salt into the slow
cooker. Next, put in the sealed beef,
along with any cooking juices from the pan.
Make 575 ml of stock with 1 Knorr Rich Beef concentrated gel
stockpot. (It’s supposed to make 500,
but the extra 75ml will not over-weaken it, as we will be using cooking juices
from the meat and veg with it). Pour
475ml of this stock into the slow cooker mixture (setting aside the remaining
100ml for later use), stir everything around, put the lid on and cook on high
for 4 hours. It will initially look low
on liquid, but within half an hour, as the mushrooms, etc break down a little,
more liquid will be produced.
About 15 minutes before the 4 hours is up, you can begin
preparing your crusts and thick gravy for the pie. I tend to use a Jus.Rol 2-pack of frozen
pre-rolled shortcrust sheets for convenience, but you can make your own and
refrigerate ahead of time if you prefer.
For the gravy, you will need use the 100ml of beef stock that you had
leftover, along with 375ml worth of juices and stock from the slow cooker
mixture, which you can remove with a large spoon and put into the measuring
jug. To make your thickening roux, melt
45g of real butter on a medium heat. When
the butter is melted, reduce to a low heat and add 26g of flour and 3g of
salt. Stir constantly with a small whisk
for 1 full minute to bind it all and cook out any floury taste (I use a flat
oval ‘Wonder Whisk’ which is usually used for single eggs or small portions of
liquid. It makes the smoothest
roux.). You should have a thick glossy
yellow mixture after 1 minute. Add the
475ml of stock and juices to this roux and stir on a medium heat with a spoon
until it thickens into beef gravy. You
can also add a little more pepper at this stage. Next, you can make the crusts. Roll your pre-rolled crusts out just a little
more on all sides so that it’s nice and thin and will fully line your
dish. Line your deep casserole dish with
crust dough, pressing it up the sides to the top. Roll the next sheet a little more to thin and stretch it as well. Cut 2 knife
slits in the middle of this sheet and set aside while you fill the pie. Remove all meat and veg from any remaining
juices in the slow cooker with a slotted or perforated spoon, as too much
liquid will make the filling watery.
Place the meat and veg into the crust-lined casserole dish (it should
fill it almost all the way, but leave a little room at the top). Pour the thick beef gravy over the meat and veg, covering it all. You can then gently place the top crust on. There should be some over-hanging pastry. Fold this all over until it no longer over-hangs
in order to make a nice double-crust edge all the way around. Go around the edges, pinching together the top
folded crust with any of the bottom crust that meets it around the top of the dish.
After this, go around again, pressing a fork
gently into the crust to make it look nice and add to the crispiness of the edge
crust. You can brush the crust with a little
milk at this stage if you like it extra browned.
Put into an oven at 200 Celsius (just over 390 F) and bake
for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown with gravy visibly bubbling through slits. I served this with some creamy cheddar mashed
potato and an extra portion of rich beef gravy that I made with the remaining
slow cooker juices, some black pepper and another roux.
the mixture during the first half of slow-cooking
the crust-lined dish ready for filling (it need not look perfect)
making the roux for the gravy
the gravy-covered filling
just before the oven
fresh out of the oven and ready to serve
'Pie and Mash' - Morris style (excuse the blurry pic!)
