Beef and Mushroom Pie

Beef and Mushroom Pie

One of my husband’s all time favorite childhood dishes is Beef and Kidney Pie.

This meal is purely comfort food. It is not just tasty and full of flavor but as soon as you  indulge yourself and the sauce of the stew oozes out, this dish will bound to become your family’s favorite.

This mouth-watering dish is popular in the U.K, Australia and New Zealand. However, the roots of pies could be traced back to ancient Egypt, which incorporated nuts, honey, and fruits in bread dough. The popularity of the pie spread via the Roman Empire throughout Europe, where every country adapted the recipes to fit their own customs and ingredients. [1]

 To cook this dish I have not used a traditional recipe, yet I have simplified it so that it is easy-to-follow.  I did not have kidney so I just used beef fillet that was available. This dish is a perfect make ahead meal, which you can store in the freezer.  You can just pop it in the oven on a lazy night, where you have no time or effort to cook a dish from scratch.

Required Ingredients

500 grams of Beef cubes steak (I have used fillet since it is the most tender cut, but you can just use any cut ideal for stews)

1 Onion

3 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon of flour

1 teaspoon of brown sugar

l tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

½ tablespoon of nutmeg

200 grams of Mushrooms

2 carrots

Water

2 packets of puff pastry

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Flour for dusting

1 beaten egg

 Kitchen utensils

1 cast iron

1 pie dish (I have used a  regular rectangular dish)

1 rolling pin

Method

1. Cut your steak in cubes. 

2. Chop the onion into very small pieces.

3. Place the  beef cubes in a bowl, add the flour, salt and nutmeg. Stir it well, so that steak pieces are  covered evenly with flour. 

4. Cut the carrot into small circles.

5. Put the cast iron pan on the stove on high heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and once the oil is hot, add the steak. (TIP: Do not add the cubes all at once and leave some space between the pieces)

6. Once the cubes become golden color, remove from the heat. (You do want to cook them through)

7. Add to the same pan 1.5 tablespoons of butter, the chopped onion and the sugar. Stir the onion, till they  caramelize and begin to brown. Add the carrots, the mushroom,  the beef cubes , salt and pepper to the onion and fill half of your pan with water.

8. Depending on the cut of the steak, leave the stew to simmer. Since I was using fillet/tenderloin cut, I have left it only for 15 min. However, if you are using tough lean cuts, you must leave it for longer time  (up to one hour) until the fat melts away in the sauce and the steak goes from tough to tender. Once done, remove from pan and place the stew in a different bowl to cool.

9. Dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour. Start rolling the pastry out in one direction.  You will need to roll two pieces of dough out. (One to be placed as a bottom layer which should be thick and another as a top layer)

10. Melt the butter and brush your serving dish with the melted butter. Spread the thick layer on your pie pan/dish and then fill it with the steak with the veggies.

11. Cover the stew with the top layer completely. Prick the border and the middle of the pastry with the fork.

12. Brush the pie with a beaten egg.

13. Preheat the oven to 200 C and bake the pie for 40-45 min, until the crust is puff and golden.

[1] http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/PieHistory.htm

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