This recipe will serve four people as a main course
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 3 - 4 hours
Ingredients
- 4 beef cheeks, trimmed and diced, the butcher will dice it for you
- 2 carrots, 2 red onions, 2 cloves garlic, 3 sticks celery all diced
- 1 tablespoon of flour
- 100g butter
- 100g chestnut mushrooms sliced
- 1 tin of tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves, picked thyme
- 2 bottles of Guinness
- 1kg potatoes, 50g butter, 100mls cream
- Bunch spring onions finely chopped
- 1 roll of all butter puff pastry
- 2 egg yolks for glazing the pastry
Seasonal Greens
- Peas, asparagus, kale, broccoli or whatever fresh green vegetables you can get your hands on
- Knob of country butter
- Picked mint
Method
- I like to prep and blanch the greens in plenty of boiling salted water for 3 minutes, then plunge into lots of iced water to stop the cooking process and ensure it stays green and vibrant. Strain whhen cooled and when ready to place back into boiling water for 1 minute and strain again. Toss in butter and mint and season with salt and pepper
- Sear off the beef in a hot heavy based pan until golden all round. Take out and set to one side. In the same pan add butter then onions, carrot, garlic and celery and sauté until soft. Add the beef back to the pan along with the stout, tomatoes, mushrooms and herbs. Place a lid on the pot and cook in a 140 degree for 3 hours until soft and tender.
- When the beef stew is cooked and tender place in a casserole dish and allow to cool before laying the rolled out puff pastry on the cooled mixture. Brush the top of the puff with the egg yolk. Place another piece of puff pastry on top, I used a piece of pastry that I cut with a trellis cutter but if you don’t have this kitchen gadget, just cut strips of pastry cut in 1cm and lay along the top and brush with more egg yolk, this is just for garnish and puff pastry is forgiving and will look great once its egg washed thoroughly.
- To make the champ, boil the potatoes until cooked, strain off and place back in the pot and on the stove for 2 minutes to ensure all the water is evaporated. Mash until smooth or until you have no lumps. In a separate pan, sauté the spring onions until soft, add the cream, season with salt and pepper and fold through the mashed potatoes
- The pie needs to be baked for 30 to 40 minutes in a 170 oven or until golden brown and piping hot
Chef's tip
- Ask the butcher to trim off any excess sinew and dice
- Be sure to get plenty of colour on the beef as this will give the sauce more flavour
- This recipe will also work with diced stewing beef but the cheeks give superior flavour
- It is good to make the day before and just bake for 35 minutes until golden brown
