This pie is an absolute winner - hearty and rich, it’s packed full of meat and gravy, spiked with tangy blue cheese and topped with flaky pastry. It’s golden!   

Serves 4  

Ingredients: 

500g beef chunks – I use chuck or blade steak  

2 tbsps flour  

1 large onion, diced 

2 carrots, diced  

3 cloves garlic, crushed 

330mls beer, ale or lager but not too sweet  

2 tbsps tomato puree 

1 bay leaf  

½ tsp salt & ¼ tsp cracked pepper to season  

100g blue cheese  

1-2 sheets ready rolled flaky pastry  

Egg wash 

Method: 

1. Sprinkle flour over beef chunks and toss to coat.  

2. In a saucepan heat the oil and brown off the meat.  Do this in batches. Set aside. 

3. In the same saucepan, sauté onions, carrots and garlic until beginning to soften. Pour over beer and as it bubbles up scrape off any yummy bits from the bottom of the pot. Add meat back in, along with tomato puree, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Lower the heat and simmer for one hour or more, until meat it meltingly tender. Cool.  

4. Heat oven to 200 C. Grease a 23cm (or similar) pie dish. 

To make the pie:  

Ladle the cold pie filling into your pie dish. Feel free to pile it up as it will settle as it cooks. Sprinkle over blue cheese. Roll out pastry to fit as a lid and egg wash the edges (this helps them to stick and seal your pie.) Drape lid over filling and squeeze and pinch pastry onto the rim of your dish to seal well. Use a sharp knife to make plenty of steam holes in the pastry. Brush with beaten egg. Lower oven temperature to 180 and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.  

Serve great spoonfuls of pie with mashed spuds and peas or my favourite, a fresh leafy green salad 

Nici’s note:  

- I’m in the habit of making the filling a day ahead as I think it improves the flavour.  

- Usually I avoid using tomato puree (too strong) but for this recipe it keeps the liquid to a minimum whilst dialling up the flavour.    

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