Slow Cooked Beef & Ale Pie topped with caramelized onion

Recipe by thebendyfork

 

Slow Cooked Beef & Ale Pie

  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients


700g cubed lean  beef

1 onion chopped

1tbsp tomato paste

50cl brown ale

2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced down the middle

1 mushroom stock cube

large handful of chestnut mushrooms sliced

1½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp mixed herbs

2 cups water

2 carrots peeled & finely cubed (part steamed)

1 cup frozen peas (add at assembly before oven)

Pinch of cumin

2 Round ready made pasty sheets

Egg wash or milk for brushing

cornflour in case you need to thicken sauce.

Salt & pepper to season

Caramelized onions – 2 large onions sliced, 50g butter, 3tbsp brown sugar

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Directions


    1. Put the slow cooker on high heat
  1. Measure out and prep all your ingredients, putting the carrots, peas and cornflour to one side as well as the caramelized onion items.
  2. Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on a high heat for 4 hours. (Check you cooker as temperatures can vary. Medium heat is fine over a few hours. )
  3. If you haven’t already done so, steam your carrot cubes for about 10 minutes. Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat, adding your onions & brown sugar. Keep stirring until caramelized with a toffee like sauce. Add more sugar if you want. Set aside and warm up before assembly
  4. Once the slow cooking is almost done, preheat your oven to 200°C. Add the peas and carrots to the meat mixture. If you think the liquid is too think, take a ladle of liquid and a teaspoon of cornflour and mix together. Add back into the mixture.
  5. Place you bottom layer of pastry into your pie dish. Spoon in the mixture with a slotted spoon so you can control the liquid. Then laden over the gravy just covering the meat. Now spoon your onions onto the top. And seal in with the top layer of pastry. Brush with egg wash.
  6. Prick a few holes in the pastry to allow for steam to escape.  And bake for about 35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. You can part bake your bottom layer of pastry if you wish for about 15 minutes before step 6.

    7. 8.Serve with mashed potato and crusty bread. Sourdough is perfect. ENJOY!!