Steak and red wine pie

This is a really great dish for a cold winter’s day. I added bolded CAPS to the recipe because the number of steps suggests that it is complicated. It is not. The most time is taken cutting things up, and letting the filling stew.

I use sweet potatoes but you can use carrots or celery instead. I find sweet potatoes are better than ordinary potatoes as they hold their shape and don’t go all mushy after a couple of hours on the stove. Peas are also a very good addition.

If you have time, use shortcrust pastry to line the pie dish (and bake blind – that is, without any filling in it) .If you do this, let the pie filling cool in the pan, and not it the pie dish, otherwise the pastry gets all soggy.

The amount here is for a deep 30cm dish.

Ingredients:

1kg of steak, cubed (I usually opt for blade steak)
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cracked pepper
About 50g of butter
2 cloves of garlic, diced
2 largish onions
1 medium sized sweet potato, cubed
250g of button mushrooms, halved or quartered
1.5-2 cups of dry red wine
1.5-2 cups of beef or vegetable stock
(the wine and stock should be in a 1:1 ratio. You can decide how much to use based on whether you like a lot of gravy or not – 2 cups is very soup like)
A couple of sprigs of rosemary and some thyme
Puff pastry sheets

What to do:

COOK THE STEAK

1. Combine the flour, salt and pepper and toss through the steak making sure they are well coated.

COOK THE REST

1. Heat half the butter in a pan, then fry the steak until browned, then remove from heat.
2. In a deep pan or wide pot, heat the rest of the butter then add garlic and onions.
3. Once the garlic and onions have browned, add the mushrooms and sweet potatoes.
4. Cook for about 10 minutes, then add the red wine and the stock.
5. Tip in the steak and any juices.

LET IT STEW

1. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let sit on the stove for about 2 hours
2. Taste the mixture every 20-30 minutes – the wine taste should soften the longer you cook it for. At about the 1.5 hour mark, add the rosemary and thyme.
3. Decide whether the mixture is too runny or not runny enough. Add a tablespoon of cornflour mixed with the minimum amount of cold water to thicken, or more stock (or water) to get a more soupy texture.

MAKE THE PIE

1. Scoop out the mixture into a large pie dish, or individual dishes, and let cool (about 30 minutes).
2. Once it is largely cooled, place the puff pastry on top of the dish (wet the pastry a bit to get it to stick to the dish). If you don’t let it cool, the pastry will go soggy from the steam coming off the pie filling – it will still cook properly so you put it straight in the oven if you are short on time.
3. Brush the pastry with some milk (brushing with a beaten egg is even better). Poke holes in the pastry with a fork, or cut a shape with a knife so that the steam is able to escape.
4. Place in a pre-heated oven at about 200°C for about 20 minutes to get it golden brown.
5. Serve with mash potatoes and steamed beans.

If you made too much filling, just put it in the fridge and make another pie later in the week – or eat the filling on its own!