BBC GOODFOOD’S STEAK, ALE & MUSHROOM PIE

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

10 grams dried porcini mushrooms

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 kg braising steak (buy this as a whole piece and cut it yourself into large chunks)

2 large onions, roughly chopped

4 large carrots, chopped into large chunks

2 teaspoons brown sugar

4 tablespoons flour 

300ml dark ale

2 beef stock cubes mixed with 400ml boiling water

Small bunch each thyme, bay leaf and parsley, tied together

200 grams bacon, chopped

200 grams cremini mushrooms, halved

650g flour, plus extra for dusting

250g cold lard or unsalted butter (or half of each), diced, plus extra for greasing

1 egg yolk, beaten, to glaze

Directions

1. In small bowl, add dried porcini mushrooms and cover with hot water. Let soak for 20 minutes, then squeeze out but keep the soaking water.

2. Preheat oven to 320 F conventional/280 F convection. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a Dutch Oven, brown cubes of braising steak really well in batches, then set aside.

3. Add chopped onions and carrots to pan. Add a drizzle more vegetable oil, then cook on a low heat for 5 mins until coloured.

4. Add the soaked porcini mushrooms, cook for 1 minute more, then sprinkle over brown sugar and 4 tbsp flour, stirring until the flour turns brown.

5. Add braising steak and any juices back into the pan and stir well to combine.

6. Pour 300ml dark ale, 2 beef stock cubes mixed with 400ml boiling water and the porcini mushroom soaking liquid, discarding the last few drops that have mushroom debris in it. 

7. Season stew with salt and pepper, tuck in the small tied-together bunch of thyme, bay leaf and parsley, and bring stew to a simmer.

8. Cover Dutch Oven with a lid and place in oven for about 2 hours, until the braising steak is really tender.

9. While stew is cooking, heat a drop more vegetable oil in a frying pan and cook bacon for 3 minutes until crisp. Turn up the heat, add halved mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes until golden. Remove from heat and, when the stew is cooked, stir them through.

10. Leave everything to cool completely – better still, make this up to 2 days in advance and keep it in the fridge as the pie will be better if the filling is fridge-cold when added. Can also be frozen for up to 3 months and defrosted when needed.

11. Make the pastry. Crumble 650g flour and 250g cold diced lard or butter, together with a generous pinch of sea salt until completely combined, then add up to 200ml ice-cold water to make a soft dough. This can be done in a food processor if you want. Knead the pastry, then wrap in and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. The pastry can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept in the fridge or frozen for up to a month.

12. When you want to make the pie, preheat oven to 425 F conventional/390 F convection and place a flat baking tray in the oven. Heavily grease a 24-28cm pie dish and dust well with flour.

13. Cut a third off the pastry and set aside. Roll out pastry to a thickish round that will easily line the pie dish with an overhang, then line the pie dish.

14. Add braising steak to the dish using a slotted spoon so some gravy is left in the container, as you don’t want too much sauce in the pie. You want the filling to be slightly higher than the rim of the dish. If you have a bit too much, set it aside.

15. Roll out remaining pastry to a thick round big enough to cover the dish. Brush edges of pastry in the dish with 1 beaten egg yolk, then cover with pastry lid.

16. Trim edges, crimp the pastry, then re-roll your trimmings to make a decoration, for example, pastry leaves. Brush top of pie heavily with egg. Make a few little slits in the centre of the pie, place on the hot baking tray.

17. Bake for 40 minutes until golden. Leave pie to rest for 10 mins while you heat up the gravy left in the container. Serve the pie at the table with a jug of gravy and a big pile of greens.

RECIPE TIP: For the best results, this is a two-day process. Make a big batch of stew (double the amounts given here) so you have one batch in the freezer ready to make a pie when you need one. The amounts for the stew are generous as pie dishes differ, but any leftover can be served as a stew or used to make a pie for one, and then frozen.